Secretary Granholm told the Financial Times that a ban on crude exports from the US was "on the table". Such an action would be a dramatic blow to investment funds across the US and destroy tens of billions of dollars worth of assets owned by American 401K's and pension plans. Worse still, it would likely have zero impact on prices at the pump and could plausibly cause prices to increase at the pump. The US refining complex relies on medium heavy crude imports from across the globe as its primary crude input. Domestic crudes are lighter in gravity and tend to go well with the refining complex in South Korea and other parts of Asia and Europe. If you ban their exports, there will be more demand elsewhere around the globe for the crudes we need to run our refineries.
Banning exports would not reduce prices at the pump and it would crush tens of billions worth of asset values in the US. Shale crudes would begin to sell at massive discounts to WTI. In 2012 investment capital was flowing to develop infrastructure to process the crude into products for resale but then the rug was pulled out with the export ban lifted. Since then, that capital has gone to build out pipeline, storage, and export loading facilities to the tune of ~$100B. This idea would cause those facilities to get mothballed with astronomical value destruction and it would have no positive impact on gasoline prices. You certainly aren't going to see another $100B dumped in to new refining capacity as the next Democrat President, as Obama did, might decide to allow exports.
Banning exports = destruction of asset values in the US, and higher prices at the pump.
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Banning exports would not reduce prices at the pump and it would crush tens of billions worth of asset values in the US. Shale crudes would begin to sell at massive discounts to WTI. In 2012 investment capital was flowing to develop infrastructure to process the crude into products for resale but then the rug was pulled out with the export ban lifted. Since then, that capital has gone to build out pipeline, storage, and export loading facilities to the tune of ~$100B. This idea would cause those facilities to get mothballed with astronomical value destruction and it would have no positive impact on gasoline prices. You certainly aren't going to see another $100B dumped in to new refining capacity as the next Democrat President, as Obama did, might decide to allow exports.
Banning exports = destruction of asset values in the US, and higher prices at the pump.
