Should the oil export ban be lifted?

[Atreus21]

Zinfamous set me straight in the Russia Economy thread. I was under the mistaken impression (well, sort of mistaken) that the current drop in oil prices is due to the American shale oil boom. And in an indirect sense it is, but the direct cause is the Saudis carpet-bombing us with oil to make prices drop in an attempt to asphyxiate the upstarts.

What should be done?

My opinion is that we should lift the oil export ban. Opening American oil companies to a larger market will put them on stronger competitive ground against OPEC than restricting them to solely the American market. It will increase OPEC's bleeding, since now they'd risk losing not just American customers but other nations as well.

I'm not in favor of subsidizing any company for any reason, and that's equally true of struggling startups.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

No, leave it as is. Exporting oil would result in lower prices/making extraction not worth the cost.

 

[Atreus21]

No, leave it as is. Exporting oil would result in lower prices/making extraction not worth the cost.

Maybe, but we should let market forces determine that.

 

[Fern]

Not sure it matters much. There is no ban on exporting gas.

I.e., would seem that now US refiners are protected in that they must refine US produced oil. Is there unused/extra capacity in foreign refineries? Since we can export the gas etc, seems to me we would need to know more before judging the effect of lifting the ban.

Fern

 

[Bitek]

Not sure on the issue, but I have no qualms about protecting the American energy market from the Saudis and other foreign producers that are trying to undermine our industry and the enormous success they've provided us

They just use that money for fund terrorists and their backwards cultures anyway. Fight fire with fire.