Exporting record amounts of oil lowers local gas prices
American shale fields now produce so much light crude that domestic refineries cannot process it all, forcing a massive trade that keeps global fuel costs down.
Deep beneath the Permian Basin, electric pumps vibrating at ten thousand feet are pulling up a specific type of oil that is actually too high-quality for many American factories. This light sweet crude is so thin and pure that domestic refineries, which spent billions of dollars in the 1990s calibrating their machinery for thick, heavy sludge from overseas, often find it difficult to process. To solve this mismatch, the United States lifted a forty-year ban on crude exports in 2015, turning the country into a global energy heavyweight that now ships out over four million barrels every single day.
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