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Belnak t1_j8i54yv wrote

Reply to comment by peter303_ in [OC] New Mexico Now Produces More Oil Than Mexico & Venezuela by latinometrics

Negative net imports doesn't mean self-sufficient. If we're continuously importing just as much, or more, than we're exporting, we're not relying on our own supply, and don't have the infrastructure in place to use our domestic product. Self-sufficiency would mean we can stop importing oil and separate ourselves from OPEC's pricing monopoly. We cannot.

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AverageAustralian111 t1_j8igugo wrote

Really? Wouldn't self-sufficiency just mean you can cut yourselves off from the entire global market?

If you keep trading on the global market, you're susceptible to price changes (caused by OPEC) regardless of how much you produce or so I would've though.

(I'm not an expert on this so please correct me if I'm wrong)

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Belnak t1_j8jlnwa wrote

Yes, self-sufficiency would mean we can cut ourselves off from the global market. We can't. Just because we pump enough crude doesn't mean we're able to refine that crude and distribute its products internally. That's why we import about as much as we export. The infrastructure that is in place isn't structured to allow us to use what we're pumping, and too much infrastructure that is in place is structured around imports. There's no financial incentive for companies to tear apart what exists and rebuild it for self-sufficiency.

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AverageAustralian111 t1_j8ki87l wrote

So different infrastructure is compatible with different types of oil, and US infrastructure is compatible with a different type of oil than US production? Is that correct?

If it is then why on Earth was it set up like that?

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Belnak t1_j8kqbk2 wrote

Think of it like this... If a pipeline runs to an east coast port to fill up ships to export to Europe, and another pipeline is set up in Los Angeles to distribute product from the Persian Gulf to gas stations, it's easier to keep doing that than to send a super tanker that doesn't fit through the Panama Canal from that east coast port, around South America, to get it to the port of LA. That's just a hypothetical example, but most of our petro infrastructure was developed before we discovered fracking and started producing enough to cover our needs, and it's expensive to redo everything.

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