[quote author=christundivided]
In point of fact, we import both refined and unrefined oil:
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_epc0_im0_mbbl_m.htm
So why are we exporting unrefined oil, if we cannot supply our own demand domestically?
You didn't mention any numbers and then expect me to look them up for you?[/quote]
LOL where did I say you had to look anything up for me? The reality is that I'm the only one that has provided any sources or citations in this debate in the first place. :
And I provided the links to show you that the import-export picture is more complicated than the simplistic version you want to peddle. Hopefully that is becoming apparent.
I looked at your link and we imported 2,000 some odd units of GAS the last month of the report. This is in contrast to almost 300,000 units that were imported.
1. Thus demonstrating that you don't know how to read a chart. Would you like to try it again? And this time, sort by the correct value? (or do I need to explain how to use the drop-down sort filters to get the data?) And while you're at it, check the other categories for blending agents?
2. My original claim was that we import
both refined and unrefined oil. But your response above that compares the monthly
import of gas to the monthly import of all petroleum products doesn't demonstrate anything. Nor does it refute what I said. (Nor, for that matter, did you even get the comparison numbers correct, but that's another argument...)
What I said was accurate.
LOL sorry, no it wasn't.
We ONLY exported 1646 thousand barrels last Dec of Crude Oil.
Which doesn't answer my question.
Why do we export any of it?
1,646 thousand barrels is 1,646,000 barrels. At 19 gallons of gas produced per barrel of oil, that's
31,274,000 gallons of gas.
At 20 gallons per tank, that's enough to fill up 1.5 million cars. Or enough for 390,000 people to fill their cars up once a week, for the entire month of Dec 2011 (which is the same month as the data).
Why are we exporting it? How does energy independence become enhanced by exporting it?
We exported 19,103 thousand barrels of Gasoline. Again, a rather large difference when compared to what we import of each product.
Nope. And again, you forget all the gas categories.
But energy independence means we don't have to import our energy, we make it here at home. Given that, why are we exporting any energy products at all, until we satisfy our domestic American needs first?
There's an answer here that I'm trying to lead you towards, but I want you to see it on your own.
We have to import the oil. We can not meet our domestic demand. We do have the refining capacity to meet the demand of Gasoline.
Yes, we have to import the oil.
Yep, we do have enough domestic refining capacity to meet our domestic gas needs.
But then why are we exporting gasoline and gasoline blending components? In the context of "energy independence", I mean?
Our national consumption of finished petroleum products (gas) is 16,127 thousand barrels per day:
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_cons_psup_dc_nus_mbblpd_m.htm
Yet we produce more finished petroleum products (gas) than that - supply is blue, how it gets distributed is in grey:
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_sum_snd_d_nus_mbblpd_m_cur.htm
Products in either category are sold on first come/first served contracts based "future" delivery schedules. Some of this is regional within the US.
And some of it is *not* in the US.
But ALL of it gets sold at the world spot market.
Sometimes the US wins the contract; sometimes not.
So what does any of this have to do with energy independence? How does adding Keystone XL, or drilling offshore, or whatever, improve our energy independence if we are already refining more oil than we can domestically use in gasoline?
I already have. Several times. What I'm doing now is trying to get you to figure it out as well, by laying a trail of breadcrumbs.
1. We import more oil than we actually use here at home.
2. Adding more oil sources will only increase our refined export capacity.
3. It will do nothing to enhance energy security, because energy security was never the goal: increasing profits was the goal.
4. Therefore, oil company claims of "energy independence" or "energy security" are a farce, designed to appeal to misguided patriotism and Americans who are uneducated about global commodities markets.
