As Clint Eastwood said "Go ahead make my day".
3-20-2014
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-choose-savings-pump-over-174910419.html
Americans choose savings at the pump over oil exports
The number of Americans who believe U.S. oil should be kept on U.S. soil to lower gasoline prices rose in the last four months, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Some 77 percent of respondents support export restrictions if that will help them save at the pump, showing how oil producers have failed to gain popular support to end a decades-old export ban.
Major oil producers such as ExxonMobil and Chevron argue that export restrictions, in place since the 1970s, will depress the price of U.S. oil and crimp output from new oil fields in North Dakota and Texas, now at a 26-year high.
Oil refiners, on the other hand, say exports will dry up cheap supplies and raise gasoline prices.
With voters still fretting over the price of gasoline, congress is unlikely to push for policy change before the mid-term elections in November, experts said.
"People may not know how much they're paying for electricity but gasoline prices are displayed in 3-feet high letters. These prices are sensitive signals in the economy," says Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and a senior White House energy advisor until late 2012.
"As a society, and as policy makers, people are trying to understand what the impacts (of exports) will be," he added.
PUMP PRICE
It is unclear what effect oil exports would have on gasoline prices. But some analysts speculated that they could in fact make gasoline cheaper.
"We believe that delivering U.S. oil into the global market could have the effect of depressing Brent prices, which is what gasoline is priced off of," said Patrick Hughes, an analyst with Height Securities in Washington, D.C.
However, independent refiners such as Valero Energy, the first refiner to publicly oppose easing the restrictions, say this argument is flawed.
"The whole reason producers support unlimited exports is because they're seeking a higher price for their oil," says Bill Day, a Valero spokesman.
"It's pretty clear to us that higher crude oil prices should lead to more expensive gasoline," he added.
3-20-2014
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-choose-savings-pump-over-174910419.html
Americans choose savings at the pump over oil exports
The number of Americans who believe U.S. oil should be kept on U.S. soil to lower gasoline prices rose in the last four months, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Some 77 percent of respondents support export restrictions if that will help them save at the pump, showing how oil producers have failed to gain popular support to end a decades-old export ban.
Major oil producers such as ExxonMobil and Chevron argue that export restrictions, in place since the 1970s, will depress the price of U.S. oil and crimp output from new oil fields in North Dakota and Texas, now at a 26-year high.
Oil refiners, on the other hand, say exports will dry up cheap supplies and raise gasoline prices.
With voters still fretting over the price of gasoline, congress is unlikely to push for policy change before the mid-term elections in November, experts said.
"People may not know how much they're paying for electricity but gasoline prices are displayed in 3-feet high letters. These prices are sensitive signals in the economy," says Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and a senior White House energy advisor until late 2012.
"As a society, and as policy makers, people are trying to understand what the impacts (of exports) will be," he added.
PUMP PRICE
It is unclear what effect oil exports would have on gasoline prices. But some analysts speculated that they could in fact make gasoline cheaper.
"We believe that delivering U.S. oil into the global market could have the effect of depressing Brent prices, which is what gasoline is priced off of," said Patrick Hughes, an analyst with Height Securities in Washington, D.C.
However, independent refiners such as Valero Energy, the first refiner to publicly oppose easing the restrictions, say this argument is flawed.
"The whole reason producers support unlimited exports is because they're seeking a higher price for their oil," says Bill Day, a Valero spokesman.
"It's pretty clear to us that higher crude oil prices should lead to more expensive gasoline," he added.