Gas Costs and Pipelines

[Bill Greenwood]

I just saw a letter to the editor that made me think.

There is a proposed Keystone XL pipeline to be built from oil fields in Canada to Texas or Gulf coast ports.
The Repulsicans are pushing it as a jobs growth endeavor, many Demoncrats oppose it on environmental concerns or oil spills and pollution of ground and drinking water.

I don't know much about it, haven't read much or studied it at all.
But the letter writer pointed out that there are oil refineries in North Dakota, and why not build the pipeline to send the oil there and then ship the gas for use in the US.
According to the writer, the only reason to send it all the way to Gulf ports is so it can be loaded onto ships to sell to higher paying buyers overseases, or in S. America; thus not really helping us with gasoline supply or prices.

This letter is from a liberal, environmentally conscious newspaper, and I don't vouch for the claim or the writer, but it sure is food for thought. There was other newspaper reports a few weeks back that for the first time in 40 years or so, the US is actually exporting gasoline to higher priced markets elsewhere.

[wa6ilt]

I just saw a letter to the editor that made me think.

There is a proposed Keystone XL pipeline to be built from oil fields in Canada to Texas or Gulf coast ports.
The Repulsicans are pushing it as a jobs growth endeavor, many Demoncrats oppose it on environmental concerns or oil spills and pollution of ground and drinking water.

I don't know much about it, haven't read much or studied it at all.
But the letter writer pointed out that there are oil refineries in North Dakota, and why not build the pipeline to send the oil there and then ship the gas for use in the US.
According to the writer, the only reason to send it all the way to Gulf ports is so it can be loaded onto ships to sell to higher paying buyers overseases, or in S. America; thus not really helping us with gasoline supply or prices.

This letter is from a liberal, environmentally conscious newspaper, and I don't vouch for the claim or the writer, but it sure is food for thought. There was other newspaper reports a few weeks back that for the first time in 40 years or so, the US is actually exporting gasoline to higher priced markets elsewhere.

Well, I did see a news story a week or two ago that the United States was a major shipper of refined products in 2010 or 2011, I forget which. We're importing oil, refnining it and exporting it to other markets. That's another sign that we are becoming a third-world economy.

[Kyle Boatright]

Bill,

I'm not in that industry, but a significant portion of refined petroleum products are shipped via pipeline from the refineries to the region where they will be used. I don't know much about the Dakotas, but I wonder if they have the pipelines in place to redistribute the finished product?

The point is, it may be better to build one new pipeline to the gulf refineries and let them ship the finished product in existing pipes, rather than to build an entirely new set of distribution pipelines from North Dakota.

[Joe LaMantia]

Hi guys!,

I just went on-line via "ASK" and found a link via "transcanada\keystone" that will get you a map and a lot of information. It looks like this pipeline would run from Alberta, CA to Port Arthur, TX with a few connectors along the way to pick up some US crude in Montana and Oklahoma. I suspect the Canadian crude is coming from the big oil sand deposits in Alberta. The US has about 21 regional pipelines spread across the various regions to move oil to refineries. Texas has the biggest concentration of refineries, the refined products are sold in the US. Additional crude found in North America provides 2 benefits, first it adds some security to our supply and any additional crude found anywhere adds to the global supply which means prices fall if demand remains constant. There are a lot of good arguments on both sides for building or not building the pipeline. It's not a cure-all but would add jobs and tax revenue for the states while taking land from a lot of ranchers along the way. Plenty of politics in this for both sides to "advocate" .

Joe