Here is a recent news item: “For the first time, the top US export is fuel”. Fuel exports through October of 2011 topped $73 billion. Yes, fuel! In 2010, aircraft was the largest export item.
Wait a minute! Aren’t we supposed to be in short supply of oil? Aren’t we supposed to be importing billions of dollars of oil products from the Mideast and other oil rich countries?
It’s true, the US is still the world’s largest importer of crude oil. For nine months of last year, the US imported $280 billion of oil and will export roughly $88 billion of fuel to include gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
So, the US is still far from energy independence.
But what’s going on here?
While the US demand for gasoline has fallen every year since 2007, foreign demand for gasoline products has risen. The more fuel that is sent overseas the less of a cushion we have here at home.
It’s a matter of economics: the sale of gasoline products goes to the highest bidder and that trend clearly is away from the US and going to developing countries that are demanding more and more fuel.
In Part III, I will elaborate more on some of these dynamics.
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