U.S. Loosens Ban on Oil Exports, Backing Trade With Mexico
Source: Wall Street Journal
U.S. energy companies eager to export crude oil scored a victory Friday when the U.S. government said it would approve proposals to trade American oil with Mexico, in a further erosion of the nations four-decade ban on selling its oil overseas.
The U.S. Commerce Department has quietly informed members of Congress that it intends to approve an application by Mexicos national oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos SA, to enter into oil trade agreements with U.S. companies under which the companies could exchange U.S. and Mexican oil, according to people familiar with the matter. The amount of crude to be allowed under the deal wasnt immediately known, but in the past Pemex, as the company is known, sought permission to exchange as much as 100,000 barrels a day of its heavy crude for the lighter oil pumped in the U.S.
The deal will help American shale drillers, which have been struggling with a world-wide glut of oil that has cut prices in half in the past 14 months. The trading deals may also reduce the justification for the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, some experts say, because Mexico can send U.S. refiners oil similar to the heavy crude coming from Canadian oil sands.
American oil companies and their allies in Congress have been pushing the Obama administration to relax restrictions on U.S. oil trade with Mexico.
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