Should the US Lift the Oil Exports Ban?

A new study from the MAPI Foundation and the Aspen Institute examined two scenarios – a low-export version in which the U.S exports 2 million barrels per day of oil and a high export case which leads to an increase of 3.25 million barrels per day in 2025. The study was conducted to  determine if ending a federal ban on crude oil exports would offer a significant boost to the U.S. manufacturing sector and the broader American economy

When Congress passed legislation in 1973 to ban crude oil exports, the U.S. was suffering from the Arab oil embargo and legislators sought to preserve domestic oil supplies. Over the ensuing decades, the U.S. continually increased its consumption of foreign oil. By 2008, the U.S. imported two-thirds of the oil it needed.

But since then, the revolution in U.S. oil production from fracking and horizontal drilling has quickly made the U.S. a leading producer of oil and natural gas.

More on oil export bans on IndustryWeek.

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