Connecting The Dots -- Keystone, Canadian Oil Sands, Heavy Oil, Light Oil -- March 28, 2017

I track the Keystone XL milestones here.

I'm not going to look for it now, but some time ago I posted a rather nice commentary about the rise and fall of the Keystone XL pipeline. Once the final chapter / epilogue is written, it will be obvious how and why this all unfolded.

I don't have the energy to go through it again, but when piecing the pieces together, these are themes to keep in mind, in chronological order:

• heavy oil, light oil
• US refining 
• US dependence on the Mideast
• what the Saudis realized when the Canadian oil sands were becoming front page news
• how the Bakken revolution interrupted the Keystone XL story, but was always a peripheral player
• how the Bakken sustained collateral damage due to the Keystone XL
• why the Keystone is "bad" for the Bakken

I had started putting this post in draft a few days ago. It was purely coincidental that RBN Energy also had back-to-back blogs on the same issue over the past couple of days.

Connecting the dots:

• Refineries, light oil, Texas.
• Oil sands.
• Keystone XL.
• RBN Energy:  why midwest refiners passed up local Bakken bounty. A must-read. Again, it was all about the Keystone XL. March 28, 2017.
• RBN Energy: market realities weight heavily on the Canadian oil sands.  March 29, 2017.

This will also help, showed up on Twitter, March 30, 2017:

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A Map That Needs Updating

From Pipeline101.