- it takes several years and lots of capital to convert a light-oil refinery to a heavy-oil refinery
- US gulf coast refineries were converted to heavy-oil refineries starting long before President Obama was elected president
- oil men have known for quite some time the huge deposits of heavy oil in Alberta, Canada
- oil men and, possibly, statesmen were not willing to let a Saddam family dynasty rule the world's largest oil reservoir
- a heavy oil source for the Gulf Coast refineries included Venezuela
- Mexican oil production had been falling precipitously
- Gulf of Mexico, deep drilling yields heavy oil
- heavy oil will be needed by Gulf Coast refineries: three choices -- OPEC (Venezuela), Gulf of Mexico deep drilling (Mexico, US); Canada
- Gulf of Mexico deep drilling heavy oil mishaps are unavoidable
- Venezuela: OPEC, unreliable
- pipeline companies will not build (in fact, in some cases, I believe, regulatory agencies won't allow pipeline companies to lay a pipeline) if the pipeline companies don't have contracts up front for the oil
- it takes several years and lots of capital to build a transcontinental pipeline
- light oil is good for gasoline and diesel, but that's about all
- with some exceptions, the federal government will not allow US oil to be exported; refined products can be exported
- heavy oil and wet natural gas provides the feedstock for plastic and fertilizer, and probably much more; light oil alone is not enough; in fact, if push comes to shove, heavy oil and wet natural gas is probably more necessary than light oil
- until the fracking revolution, the US was running out of dry natural gas and was building terminals to import natural gas
- environmentalists were blocking new natural gas import terminals (especially in the northeast)
- fracking changed everything
- dating back to WWII, most European refineries are geared to making gasoline
- the #1 transportation fuel in Europe is now diesel, not gasoline
- there is a shortage of diesel in the oil patch
- a global recession has minimized the impact of a diesel shortage
- the US is a major supplier of diesel for Europe
- Europe will be idling at least ten (10) of their 104 refineries by 2020
- Saudi Arabia recently stated that they are cutting production in April because (European) refineries are asking for less oil; they say this happens every April
- along the Gulf Coast, free market capitalism had positioned the US very nicely for the future based on prevailing worldview prior to President Obama's world view
- renewable energy will not provide for US transportation needs in the near future; renewable energy will be a niche energy source for decades, maybe centuries (the math, to argue otherwise, simply doesn't work); 2013 appears to be a tipping point for wind, solar (but that takes us to a new chapter). This data point is irrelevant for the purpose of this discussion but has to be dealt with.
Some data sources that will help connect the dots:
- An overview of the refining industry, SeekingAlpha, July 29, 2012
- Insufficient oil "infrastructure" entirely avoidable, CNS News, August 20, 2012
- Sour crude oil, wiki
- Heavy oil, wiki
- Fossil fuel will be the energy for decades, if not centuries
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