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>- the US imports 60-70% of its oil from Canada In context, this only applies to oil that the US imports. That number means that of the oil that the US imports

>- the US imports 60-70% of its oil from Canada In context, this only applies to oil that the US imports. That number means that of the oil that the US imports, 60-70% of it comes from Canada. The US currently produces more oil than any other nation. Your note should read "the US imports 60-70% of the oil that it imports from Canada" - 100% of the natural gas As mentioned above, this means that US imports of natural gas come exclusively from Canada. The US currently produces more natural gas than any other nation too. Your note should read "100% of the natural gas that the US imports comes from Canada" It makes sense that Canada is sole source for imported natural gas since that is a product that is most efficiently transported in pipelines, like crude oil. The way your numbers are framed seems to me to imply that the US is a net importer of oil and natural gas when in fact we began to ramp up exports of oil and natural gas (and coal) in 2006-2008 time period. Those exports helped the industry remain a dominant political force and provided a lot of seed money for the corruption that we have seen in the US since.

cmrdporcupine 1mo ago
This is all true but the story is a bit more complicated because of the nature of the refinery configurations means that many of the refineries in the US are specifically geared for / dependent on the heavy crude that comes from Canada and are not set up for the light crude that comes from US domestic oil. Major pipelines (e.g. Enbridge / Mainline / Line 5 etc system) also cross the border back and forth. Same for natural gas etc. Like auto parts/auto manufacturing -- the whole system has been assumed in the past by economic decision makers to be a continent-wide system. Trying to break that apart now is just trying to jam toothpaste back in the tube. It would be an incredible multi-year economic disruption if Canadian oil and gas were to be turned off tomorrow. The bullshit "we don't need anything from Canada" line is beyond insane.
- doodlebugging 1mo ago
  Thanks for fleshing out another part of the situation. All of our energy production and processing capacity is dependent to some extent on products that are not domestically sourced. Our Gulf of Mexico refineries were originally built to use heavy Venezuelan crude. Citgo is basically the 100% state-owned Venezuelan oil company PDVSA. It is chartered in the US as a Delaware corp headquartered in Texas as PDV Holdings which owns 100% of Citgo Holdings shares. Even with instability in the region and strained relations, the Citgo operation was critical to US production of refined products. Canadian tar sands production began ramping up after 9/11 as in-situ production using steam injection became a big driver over open mining operations. There was consolidation in the industry during that period as the industry rebounded from low crude prices a few years earlier (as low as ~$11.50/bbl) In a few short years the prices had stabilized above $50/bbl so that it has remained economical to produce. Before that, the heavy crude, tar-like products almost all came from Lake Maracaibo.

cmrdporcupine 1mo ago

This is all true but the story is a bit more complicated because of the nature of the refinery configurations means that many of the refineries in the US are specifically geared for / dependent on the heavy crude that comes from Canada and are not set up for the light crude that comes from US domestic oil. Major pipelines (e.g. Enbridge / Mainline / Line 5 etc system) also cross the border back and forth. Same for natural gas etc. Like auto parts/auto manufacturing -- the whole system has been assumed in the past by economic decision makers to be a continent-wide system. Trying to break that apart now is just trying to jam toothpaste back in the tube. It would be an incredible multi-year economic disruption if Canadian oil and gas were to be turned off tomorrow. The bullshit "we don't need anything from Canada" line is beyond insane.

doodlebugging 1mo ago
Thanks for fleshing out another part of the situation. All of our energy production and processing capacity is dependent to some extent on products that are not domestically sourced. Our Gulf of Mexico refineries were originally built to use heavy Venezuelan crude. Citgo is basically the 100% state-owned Venezuelan oil company PDVSA. It is chartered in the US as a Delaware corp headquartered in Texas as PDV Holdings which owns 100% of Citgo Holdings shares. Even with instability in the region and strained relations, the Citgo operation was critical to US production of refined products. Canadian tar sands production began ramping up after 9/11 as in-situ production using steam injection became a big driver over open mining operations. There was consolidation in the industry during that period as the industry rebounded from low crude prices a few years earlier (as low as ~$11.50/bbl) In a few short years the prices had stabilized above $50/bbl so that it has remained economical to produce. Before that, the heavy crude, tar-like products almost all came from Lake Maracaibo.