Not mentioned in the article, the US is actually a few different oil markets. For example, the east coast has refineries, but they are geared for oil from the

Not mentioned in the article, the US is actually a few different oil markets. For example, the east coast has refineries, but they are geared for oil from the middle east. Why? One reason is the Jones Act, which prohibits shipping between US ports except by US crewed/flagged vessels. There basically aren't any of those. So, we ship liquified natural gas from Texas to Europe and Asia, but are not allowed to ship to the east coast or other US ports. The other reason is that pipeline capacity to the east coast is severely constrained. Many planned pipelines have been cancelled. It takes decades with all the NIMBY laws to build one, but only one president to throw all that work out with a decree. Pipeline capacity is further constrained due to regulations for boutique fuels. The gas you can use can vary from state to state. If you start a run of said fuel on the pipeline, you can't serve the whole intended market for when the pipeline was designed. And then there is the whole ethanol thing. It has to get shipped at great expense from the midwest to the coasts where regulations say it must be used.