Here are the highlights of this story:
-“Oil exports increased by 300,000 barrels per day to a total average of 900,000 barrels per day in the first half of 2017 from the same period last year, according to federal data released this month.”
-“The U.S. exported crude to 27 countries in the first half of the year compared with 19 a year ago, EIA (Energy Information Administration) said.”
-“Exporting has a geopolitical effect that is starting to take effect by displacing oil from OPEC, the international cartel that includes a number of the world’s largest nationalized oil companies, such as Saudi Aramco.”
-“”We’ve effectively taken price control away from OPEC and put it in the hands of the market, which means primarily private producers in the United States,” Barton (R-Texas) said.”
-“The U.S. currently exports more natural gas than the nation imports.”
-“China is becoming the biggest source of that demand for U.S. oil. . . . 10 times higher than last year’s totals, according to Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.”