Thread: U.S. is net oil products exporter to Mexico for first time in years

U.S. is net oil products exporter to Mexico for first time in years

Net exports exceed imports for first time in at least 20 years

By Robert Grattan
October 2, 2015 Updated: October 3, 2015 12:38am

Photo: ADRIANA ZEHBRAUSKAS, STR


As of July, for the first time in at least two decades, the U.S. is sending more oil and refined products to Mexico -- which operates this production platform in the Gulf of Mexico -- than it's sending north of the border. (New York Times photo)

The U.S. sent more crude oil and petroleum products to Mexico than it received for the first time in at least two decades in July, according to the latest government data.

The switch from net importer to net exporter underlines a new reality for oil markets: After decades of sourcing oil from south of the border, the U.S., and especially Texas, has plenty of oil.

Simultaneously, Mexican production has declined even as the country's need for oil and the products that come from it have risen.

Refined items

U.S. net imports of oil and petroleum products from Mexico peaked in June 2006 at 1.6 million barrels per day. In July, the U.S. sent net exports of about 48,000 barrels per day to Mexico. Many of the exports were refined products, because the United States has banned crude exports since the 1970s, although there are a few exceptions.

Mexico's oil production has tapered off recently from about 3.5 million barrels per day in 2008 to 2.3 million barrels per day this year. The country has launched a massive energy sector overhaul intended to reverse the decline, but any production boost from private investment remains years away.

In addition to declining Mexican production, stepped-up production from Canada has made it harder for Mexican oil to find a home in U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast.

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Stiffer competition
Mexico produces and sends to the U.S. mostly heavier crude oil, similar to what comes from Canada's oil sands. Increased production from those sands, combined with new pipelines bringing more of that oil to the Gulf Coast, have stiffened the competition Mexican oil faces.

U.S. net imports from Canada have risen over the same period Mexican imports have fallen. In 2006, the U.S. was a net importer of crude oil and petroleum products from Canada at 2.1 million barrels per day. The most recent figures show that figure has risen to 2.5 million barrels per day.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/busi...or-6547053.php

Well, good for US oil industry! Finally, someone from our country is actually winning. Trump said the other day that he wants the US to be energy independent. He says "oh yes, absolutely" as if this is a given. I know we can be, whether we are or not is based on decisions to be so, so we need leaders who think this way, who want US to be independent from the Middle East, to have our own oil and other energy products and so much of them that we can reserve them for emergencies as well as export some of them.

10/9/15

House votes to lift 40-year-old ban on US crude oil exports