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> If you want to lower US energy prices to combat inflation, impose a cap on exports. Energy (and oil) isn't fungible. Weird as it may sound, US refineries wer
by HWR_14 4y ago
> If you want to lower US energy prices to combat inflation, impose a cap on exports.
Energy (and oil) isn't fungible. Weird as it may sound, US refineries weren't set up to handle US crude, so it's incredibly wasteful to process it in-country.
And US LNG exports are unlikely to increase in 2022, because exporting infrastructure is already at the limit.
- jnordwick 4y agoRefiners can be adapted to process more sour blends when a longer term issue is seen or it can be routed through a 3rd party who can supply the service. If that wasn't the case you wouldn't see contracts for off grades just written up as a static per barrel cost to TI or Brent. Of course it isn't frictionless though.
- HWR_14 4y agoUS crude actually tends to be sweeter than average. It's just more efficient to export the sweet crude and import the more sour crude than recreate the refineries outside the US to handle the sour.