The U.S. is exporting more gasoline than we import for the first time since 1949, according to the Energy Information Agency. These record high gasoline exports are undermining congressional calls to turn important conservation lands into oil and gas fields.
“Gasoline exports have tripled in the last 5 years. We’re exporting more gasoline than we’re importing for the first time since 1949. This supply of domestically-produced gasoline could be helping to moderate prices at the pump, but instead the oil industry is exporting our domestic supply to foreign markets,” said David Moulton, senior director for legislative affairs for The Wilderness Society.
An Energy Information Agency report released on March 1, 2012 shows that at the end of 2011 the US was exporting approximately 600,000 more barrels of refined petroleum than it was importing per month. Oil production in the US is also up – hitting a recent high of 112 million barrels per day in 2011.
“This latest data shows what the oil industry has known for a long time – that petroleum is sold on a world market to the highest bidder. If Congress wants to help American pocketbooks, they should stop inflating Big Oil profits by eliminating more than $40 billion in subsidies, giveaways, and tax breaks that the American people are giving the fossil fuel industry,” said Moulton.