In a first, gas and other fuels are top US export

[jimmy olsen]

Great news, especially since US production continues to increase.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45827867/ns/business-oil_and_energy/#.Tv-sG9VKR5c

In a first, gas and other fuels are top US export

By CHRIS KAHN
updated 12/31/2011 1:34:52 AM ET

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NEW YORK — For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is — wait for it — fuel.

Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.

Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn't even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America's top export was aircraft.

The trend is significant because for decades the U.S. has relied on huge imports of fuel from Europe in order to meet demand. It only reinforced the image of America as an energy hog. And up until a few years ago, whenever gasoline prices climbed, there were complaints in Congress that U.S. refiners were not growing quickly enough to satisfy domestic demand; that controversy would appear to be over.

Still, the U.S. is nowhere close to energy independence. America is still the world's largest importer of crude oil. From January to October, the country imported 2.7 billion barrels of oil worth roughly $280 billion.

Fuel exports, worth an estimated $88 billion in 2011, have surged for two reasons:

— Crude oil, the raw material from which gasoline and other refined products are made, is a lot more expensive. Oil prices averaged $95 a barrel in 2011, while gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon — a record. A decade ago oil averaged $26 a barrel, while gasoline averaged $1.44 a gallon.

— The volume of fuel exports is rising. The U.S. is using less fuel because of a weak economy and more efficient cars and trucks. That allows refiners to sell more fuel to rapidly growing economies in Latin America, for example. In 2011, U.S. refiners exported 117 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products, up from 40 million gallons per day a decade earlier.

There's at least one domestic downside to America's growing role as a fuel exporter. Experts say the trend helps explain why U.S. motorists are paying more for gasoline. The more fuel that's sent overseas, the less of a supply cushion there is at home.

Gasoline supplies are being exported to the highest bidder, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. "It's a world market," he says.

Refining companies won't say how much they make by selling fuel overseas. But analysts say those sales are likely generating higher profits per gallon than they would have generated in the U.S. Otherwise, they wouldn't occur.

The value of U.S. fuel exports has grown steadily over the past decade, coinciding with rising oil prices and increased demand around the globe.

Developing countries in Latin America and Asia have been burning more gasoline and diesel as their people buy more cars and build more roads and factories. Europe also has been buying more U.S. fuel to make up for its lack of refineries.

And there's a simple reason why America's refiners have been eager to export to these markets: gasoline demand in the U.S. has been falling every year since 2007. It dropped by another 2.5 percent in 2011. With the economy struggling, motorists cut back. Also, cars and trucks have become more fuel-efficient and the government mandates the use of more corn-based ethanol fuel.

The last time the U.S. was a net exporter of fuels was 1949, when Harry Truman was president. That year, the U.S. exported 86 million barrels and imported 82 million barrels. In the first ten months of 2011, the nation exported 848 million barrels (worth $73.4 billion) and imported 750 million barrels.

[Martinus]

Err, it means you are becoming a third world country. Grats?

[Eddie Teach]

Eh, we're a very large country so we should be among the tops in resource extraction.

[Neil]

The US has always shipped out enormous quantities of fuels, because of its enormous refining capacity.  This isn't as big an event as Tim might have you believe.

[Admiral Yi]

Err, it means you are becoming a third world country. Grats?

If there's one thing that says third world, it's a lot of refining capacity.

[Ed Anger]

When he wakes up fom his 15 appletini's, he'll claim he was trolling.

[dps]

Didn't we already have a thread about this a couple of month's ago, complete with some retarded comment about the US becoming a 3rd world country?

[Razgovory]

Err, it means you are becoming a third world country. Grats?

If there's one thing that says third world, it's a lot of refining capacity.

Yeah, transforming a raw material to a finished product is a sure sign of a third world country.

[Neil]

Yeah, transforming a raw material to a finished product is a sure sign of a third world country.

Actually, these days it kind of is, don't you think?  Didn't we outsource pretty much the entire manufacturing capacity of the First World to Shitfuckistan?

These days, the First World thing to do seems to be to work service jobs and con people out of money.

[DGuller]

Err, it means you are becoming a third world country. Grats?

I know there is no way for you to know this, but gasoline is a manufactured good.  You need a shitload of technology and capital investment to do it efficiently.

[derspiess]

Jeez, Marty.  Refining fuel isn't a third world thing.  WTF, dude...



Sorry, couldn't resist piling on.

[jimmy olsen]

People were making gasoline a hundred years ago, how hard can it be?

[Richard Hakluyt]

Each refinery requires a large capital investment but then operates for decades, political stability is a big consideration I would imagine.

[dps]

People were making gasoline a hundred years ago, how hard can it be?

Yeah, but Poland and some other 3rd world countries are more than a century behind the West.

[HisMajestyBOB]

People were making gasoline a hundred years ago, how hard can it be?

Yeah, but Poland and some other 3rd world countries are more than a century behind the West.

Poland's top export is torches. Useful for seeing in the dark, scaring away gypsies, and burning Jews!