The Road To California -- September 10, 2018

This is really pretty amazing when one thinks about it.

California is refining as much oil as ever -- well, at least back to 1982 -- but getting more of that oil to refine from Saudi Arabia.

And the state is doing everything it can to keep Saudi Arabia rich. LOL.

From oilprice:

• the state can't ban drilling federal land off-shore
• but it can ban the infrastructure needed to get oil to the coast
• so, what will the drillers do? off-shore tankers -- this is not rocket science -- and with risk of earthquakes and geologic shifts, it makes a lot more sense to use off-shore tankers, and not pipelines
• the state uses as much oil today as it did in 1982
• 1982: most of California's oil come from state resources
• 2017: 31% from state resources
• 2017: 57% from overseas
• biggest foreign source: Saudi Arabia, followed by Ecuador and Columbia
• California refiners obviously optimized for heavy oil
• California's CO2 emissions -- FWIW -- have risen at an annual rate of 1.5%

And so it goes.

What a great country.

And then my brother-in-law wonders why gasoline is so expensive in California. From oilprice:

• WCS: $34 / bbl -- optimum oil for California, from Canada's western oil sands
• ANS:  $75 / bbl 
• OPEC basket: $74
• California's Buena Vista: $74
• California's Midway-Sunset: $70
• Saudi Arabia, Arab Heavy: $74

The rest of the US is refining with $50 oil. At the low end.

And don't even get me started on California regulations.

State tax on gasoline? California ranks #7.  North Dakota, #35; Texas, #43.

The writing is on the wall: if California wants to do more to lower its annual CO2 emissions -- FWIW -- the state is going to have to do a lot more to discourage Hollywood rich and elite driving those Humvees.