Oil Exports Could Push US Gasoline Prices Lower

The price of U.S. gasoline could fall if Washington were to allow crude oil exports, an independent government report on Tuesday concluded, adding political firepower for those who want to change the law to expand such trade.

 

Exports would put more crude on global markets and push down prices for international Brent oil "which in turn results in lower petroleum product prices for U.S. consumers," according to the report by the Energy Information Administration, entitled "Effects of Removing Restrictions on U.S. Crude Oil Exports.

 

The United States has severely limited oil exports since the early 1970s in the wake of the Arab oil embargo.

 

The Obama administration has taken steps to increase exports of minimally-processed light oil called condensate and allow crude swaps with Mexico. But oil producers say a full repeal of the ban is needed to keep the domestic drilling boom alive.

 

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Senators Lisa Murkowski, the Republican head of the energy committee, and Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, are pushing legislation to reverse the ban. They need many more Democrats to come on board for the bill to pass, and a vote on the full bill is not expected until next year.

 

A separate study from IHS Global Insight on Tuesday said that eliminating the export ban would stoke domestic production and support roughly 124,000 new jobs in the next 15 years.


(Reporting By Patrick Rucker and Timothy Gardner; Editing by Andrew Hay)