Crude oil export benefits

A new study released by the API shows that exports of crude oil could create up to 300 000 jobs in the US by 2020 and shave billions off fuel costs for consumers. API VP for Regulatory and Economic Policy, Kyle Isakower said, ‘consumers are among the first to benefit from free trade, and crude oil is no exception. Gasoline costs are tied to a global market, and this study shows that additional exports could help increase supplies, put downward pressure on the prices at the pump, and bring more jobs to America. Access to foreign customers could drive significant investment in US production, helping to strengthen our energy security. Now that the US is poised to become the world’s largest oil producer, the economic case for exports is clear.’

ICF International and EnSys Energy report

The report suggests that if current restrictions on crude exports were lifted:

• The cost of gasoline, heating oil and diesel fuel is projected to fall, saving American consumers up to US$ 5.8 billion/y, on average, between 2015 and 2035. Prices could decline as much as 3.8 cents/gal. in 2017, dropping as much as 2.3 cents /gal., on average, from 2015 – 2035.
• The US economy could gain up to 300 000 additional jobs in 2020.
• America’s trade deficit could fall by US$ 22 billion in 2020.
• The economy could grow by as much as US$ 38 billion in 2020, with an average GDP increase of up to US$ 27 billion /y through 2035.
• US federal, state, and local government revenues could rise by as much as US$ 13.5 billion in 2020.
• Up to an additional US$ 70 billion is projected to be invested in US exploration, development and production between 2015 and 2020.
• US refiners could process, on average, an additional 100 000 bpd of oil due to more efficient distribution of heavy and light crudes over the 2015 to 2035 period.

Adapted from press release by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/02042014/us_crude_export_benefits/