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As I understand it, most US refiners in the gulf region are tuned for heavier/sourer crudes than is produced domestically. I'm not entirely sure why that is (m
by neilknowsbest 4y ago
As I understand it, most US refiners in the gulf region are tuned for heavier/sourer crudes than is produced domestically. I'm not entirely sure why that is (maybe a historical artifact due to prevalence of those grades in Latin America?), but the result is that we generally want to import crudes for refining.
Which is to say: the light/sweet crudes produced domestically are not the ideal feedstocks for our refiners, so restricting exports of those wouldn't necessarily increase supply of refined products.
- seanmcdirmid 4y agoI think they are tuned for mixing heavy dirty crude from places like Venezuela with light clean crude from Texas. It’s the best way to leverage Venezuelan oil (without mixing in higher quality crude, refining is very difficult). Maybe that’s why they wanted Keystone XL? Since Venezuela is basically out of commission, use Albertan oil instead?