US Fuel Exports Surge

Reuters is reporting:

In the middle of July, U.S. refiners are normally doing a brisk business selling their fuel close to home, revving up output to meet peak driving demand.

This year, however, they are in the midst of an unprecedented summer surge in exports of gasoline, diesel and other fuels, as the combination of cheaper shale crude and record-high biofuel credit costs open up new markets overseas.

Refiners like Valero and traders like Vito have raced this month to book more than 77 tankers to ship fuel from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Africa, Argentina and even Asia, nearly surpassing total bookings in all of July last year, according to data from shipbroker Charles R. Weber Company Inc.

RBN Energy had a related story which was posted earlier this morning. 

It looks like America's energy sector is hitting on all twelve cylinders. What a great country!

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A Note To The Granddaughters

Speaking of "what a great country," here's a short story.

Tonight we struck up a conversation with a wonderful assistant manager at a Japanese buffet restaurant in west Los Angeles. She happened to be Iranian. She had come to this country when she was three years old via London, England. 

I asked her if she had a British passport / British citizenship. She said it was very, very difficult to get a British passport. She said things were so much easier in this country, and she was not talking just about citizenship. She had come to American in 1982 (if I recall correctly) and she still raves about how wonderful this country is. 

A very refreshing conversation.

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Speaking of passports, why would the US allow folks to forge up to two (2) American passports without being charged with a crime? The new immigration bill allows folks to forge up to two (2) American passports. It becomes a crime if one forges three (3) or more passports. 

It appears I can't make this stuff up. What a great country. Sometimes you just need a passport for a quick trip and cannot way for the US government to send you one. It's times like that you will be glad that you can forge a passport and not be charged with a crime. I assume forged passports are good for ten (10) years, just like the real ones.