A follow-up to our follow-up on a Washington Post article that dismissed the effects of increased U.S. oil production on global crude oil markets. The story also took shots at the oil and natural gas industry’s ability to create jobs, as well as industry assertions about the potential effect of a new gasoline standard on refineries.

Let’s start with jobs. A Wood Mackenzie study released last fall said that with the right policies the oil and natural gas industry could create 1.4 million new jobs by 2030. Here’s what the job-creation growth looks like in a chart from that study:

As it has done in previous articles, the Post suggested the projection isn’t valid because it includes direct, indirect and “induced” jobs – “everything from day-care workers to valets to rocket scientists.... more »

At a time when just everyone is understandably concerned about fuel prices, EPA apparently didn’t get the memo. Its latest thinking on a Tier III refinery rulemaking would add significant costs to the making of gasoline, according to a new analysis by Baker & O’Brien, Inc.

During a recent conference call with reporters, API’s Bob Greco, group director for downstream and industry operations, talked about the impacts on refiners of the proposed rule to further reduce sulfur levels in gasoline:

• Nearly $10 billion in new capital costs to industry.
• Increase of between 6 cents and 9 cents per gallon to the cost of manufacturing gasoline, according to Baker & O’Brien.
• Increase of as much as 25 cents per gallon if a vapor pressure reduction requirement, which EPA considered, is in... more »

Bill O’Reilly was beating the drum again last night about oil exports, once again displaying his lack of rhythm.  Here are his arguments in a nutshell:

Many Republicans want to drill baby drill but what's the point if all the oil goes to China?...You are not making as much money in U.S.A. as you could in China so you are just whipping it out and throwing it over to China. Is that right or wrong?... And we own 12 miles of ocean offshore. That's the U.S. sphere of influence. We own that; it's ours. All the 320 million American citizens. The government doesn't own it. The oil companies don't own it. So they take the stuff out of our land, and they send it to China. Does that make sense to you?

First let’s go back to this chart:

That’s right in 2011 99.7 percent of the crude oil... more »

Kevin Hall, of McClatchy, writes:

“U.S. demand for oil and refined products - including gasoline - is down sharply from last year, so much that United States has actually become a net exporter of gasoline, unable to consume all that it makes.”

So far so good.

“Exports of U.S. refined product averaged 2.928 million barrels per day over the four weeks ending on Feb. 10, compared to 2.190 million barrels per day for the four weeks ending Feb. 11, 2011, the EIA said. This category is primarily gasoline, but it includes unfinished oils, fuel additives, ethanol and other blending components.”

Um.  No.  This category is not primarily gasoline.  Using the EIA data this is what we see:

Then we get the export fear mongering:

“The export picture suggests that when domesti... more »

One of the flimsier arguments deployed against the Keystone XL pipeline is that the Canadian oil sands crude it would deliver to U.S. refiners would be for export. We addressed that here, and others have chimed in as well. Basically, the United States doesn’t import crude and then turn around and export it. And the fact is the limited amount of finished products that are exported is good for U.S. jobs, good for U.S. trade.

Sound economic reasoning apparently is no barrier to a group of House Democrats who’re offering legislation that would block the export of oil and refined products made from the crude delivered by the Keystone XL (assuming the pipeline is built).

Passing a legislative wand over a bad idea doesn’t improve it. Once again, the facts:

• More than 90 percent of on-ro... more »