Oil Exports, Illegal for Decades, Now Fuel a Texas Port Boom
As the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cuts production to prop up oil prices, American exports are beginning to elbow out Saudi crude in some markets, a development
that would have been inconceivable four decades ago when OPEC oil embargoes threatened to cripple the American economy.
We’re grabbing market share, and we’re doing our part to rectify our imbalance of trade.”
Suddenly buyers from all over the world are purchasing the new American supplies, from South Korea to India — even oil-rich Venezuela, which uses the light sweet crude
that comes out of American shale to blend with its gooey heavy crude.
The expansion of energy exports fits neatly with President Trump’s promise last week to usher in an age of “American energy dominance.”
But oil executives say the driving force for future production and exports will be the economics of global supply and demand, rather than Washington policy.
Crude exports from Corpus Christi have already increased from an average of 68,000 barrels a day during the first
half of 2016 to 384,000 barrels a day this April, according to a recent report by RBN Energy, an analysis firm.
