Oil CEO to Congress: Fight Russia by lifting 40-year ban on U.S. crude exports

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/26/oil-ceo-to-congress-fight-russia-by-lifting-40-year-ban-on-u-s-crude-exports/



Oil CEO to Congress: Fight Russia by lifting 40-year ban on U.S. crude exports
By Reuters
Wednesday, March 26, 2014 12:06 EDT
By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lifting the 40-year ban on U.S. crude exports is the fastest way the American drilling boom could be used to bolster energy security in Europe and Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, the CEO of the biggest operator in North Dakota’s vast oil fields will tell lawmakers on Wednesday.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion and annexation of the Crimean region of Ukraine, several U.S. lawmakers have introduced bills pushing the Department of Energy to speed approvals of U.S. liquefied natural gas exports from more than 20 projects.

The extra U.S. LNG, the argument goes, would provide Europe an alternative to gas supplies from Russia, from which it gets nearly a third of its fuel, or at least it would help lower prices in natural gas markets.

But the first U.S. project to export LNG from the United States to countries with which Washington does not have free trade agreements would not launch until late next year. Other projects would take years longer as billions of dollars of equipment needs to be built. In addition, Ukraine lacks an LNG port, and Turkey does not allow LNG tankers to reach the country through the Bosphorus straits.

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You knew the TPP would rear its ugly head.