No 1 US export: Fuel and gas. What happened to the refinement shortage?

[zzzz]

All we have been hearing about the last few years is that the lack of refineries are a cause of the high fuel price fluctuations but here we are exporting it in large quantities. Of course the aim is profit and foreigners pay more than we do but the cries by the energy companies that they do not have refinery space is patently false. Why not just tell the American people it is supply and demand and that foreigners deserve the fuel more than we do because they will pay more. Be truthful and stop the propaganda.

For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is - wait for it - fuel.
Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.
Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn't even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America's top export was aircraft.
The trend is significant because for decades the U.S. has relied on huge imports of fuel from Europe in order to meet demand. It only reinforced the image of America as an energy hog. And up until a few years ago, whenever gasoline prices climbed, there were complaints in Congress that U.S. refiners were not growing quickly enough to satisfy domestic demand; that controversy would appear to be over.

There's at least one domestic downside to America's growing role as a fuel exporter. Experts say the trend helps explain why U.S. motorists are paying more for gasoline. The more fuel that's sent overseas, the less of a supply cushion there is at home.
Gasoline supplies are being exported to the highest bidder, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. "It's a world market," he says.
Refining companies won't say how much they make by selling fuel overseas. But analysts say those sales are likely generating higher profits per gallon than they would have generated in the U.S. Otherwise, they wouldn't occur.

My Way News - In a first, gas and other fuels are top US export

 

[uscitizen]

Ohh the refinement "shortage" will be back.
What ever happened to those refineries that Bush said would be built on abandoned govt land?

And do not say regulations since not one permit was ever applied for.

 

[editec]

We speak of domestic oil and its production using terms like "OUR OIL"

Got news for you folks.

It's not our gas or oil, it is owned by corporations and they sell it to the highest bidder.

Wake up and smell the corporatocracy, fools.

 

[lizzie]

From the link:

"For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is - wait for it - fuel.
Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990"

Does this imply that gas exports are up, or does it just mean that we aren't exporting much of anything else? I suspect the latter to be the case. Not necessarily a good indicator.