XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: edm.general, ont.politics   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   Sounds like Canada should just stop looking for customers and start   
   using its own resources for its own people.   
   Better for the people . . .  better for the environment . . .  better   
   for our health . . . tough shit for the exploiters of the tarsands.   
   _______________________________________________   
   Bloomberg News | July 4, 2014   
      
   U.S. overtakes Saudi Arabia, Russia to become world’s biggest oil   
   producer: report   
      
      
   The U.S. overtook Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s biggest   
   producer of oil as extraction of energy from shale rock strengthens the   
   nation’s economy, Bank of America Corp. said.   
      
   U.S. production of crude oil, along with liquids separated from natural   
   gas, surpassed all other countries in the first six months, the bank   
   said in a report Friday. The country became the world’s largest natural   
   gas producer in 2010. A Commerce Department decision to allow the   
   overseas shipment of processed light oil called condensate has fanned   
   speculation the nation may ease its four-decade ban on most crude exports.   
      
        Low energy prices are a key edge of the U.S. economy   
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   â€œAmerica is now the world’s leading producer of oil and gas,â€� Francisco   
   Blanch, the bank’s head of commodities research in New York, said in the   
   report. “The American shale revolution has had a transformational effect   
   on the U.S. and global economies in recent years. Low energy prices are   
   a key edge of the U.S. economy.â€�   
      
   Oil extraction is soaring at shale formations in Texas and North Dakota   
   as companies split apart rocks using high-pressure liquid, a process   
   known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The surge in supply combined   
   with restrictions on exporting crude is curbing the price of West Texas   
   Intermediate, America’s oil benchmark, prompting calls from some   
   lawmakers to change overseas-shipment rules.   
      
   OPEC Unrest   
      
   Production growth outside the U.S. has been lower than the bank   
   anticipated, keeping global oil prices high, Blanch said. Partly as a   
   result of the output boom, WTI futures on the New York Mercantile   
   Exchange remain at a discount of about US$7 a barrel to their European   
   counterpart, the Brent contract on ICE Futures Europe’s London-based   
   exchange. WTI was at US$103.93 a barrel as of 10:44 a.m. London time.   
      
   Oil production in North Dakota has tripled in five years. The productive   
   Bakken shale oil formation stretches from South Dakota into Canada's   
   province of Saskatchewan.   
      
   Rising U.S. oil supplies come as an Islamist insurgency threatens output   
   in Iraq, the second-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum   
   Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia. Territorial gains in northern   
   Iraq by a group calling itself the Islamic State has spurred concerns   
   that oil flows from the south could be disrupted.  Exports from Libya   
   have been disrupted by protests, while Nigeria’s production is crimped   
   by oil theft and sabotage.   
      
   Libya will resume exports as soon as possible from two oil ports in the   
   country’s east after taking back control from rebels who blocked crude   
   shipments for the past year, Mohamed Elharari, spokesman for the   
   state-run National Oil Corp., said by phone Thursday from Tripoli.   
      
   The U.S. will consolidate its position as the world’s biggest producer   
   in the coming months if returning Libyan supply limits the need for   
   Saudi barrels, said Julian Lee, an oil strategist who writes for   
   Bloomberg News First Word. The observations he makes are his own.   
      
   North Dakota   
      
   Fracking is used in states from North Dakota to Pennsylvania, helping   
   push U.S. natural gas production to new highs in each of the past seven   
   years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Annual   
   investment in oil and gas in the U.S. is at a record US$200 billion,   
   reaching 20 percent of the country’s total private fixed-structure   
   spending for the first time, Blanch said.   
      
   Condensate export licenses awarded by the Commerce Department are “a   
   positive first stepâ€� to dispersing the build up of crude supply in North   
   America, Blanch said in a previous report on June 27.   
      
   Pioneer Natural Resources Co. said on July 25 that the Commerce   
   Department had allowed export of condensate produced in Texas, provided   
   it was first subject to preliminary distillation. The U.S. could   
   potentially have daily exports of 1 million barrels of crude, including   
   300,000 of condensate, by the end of the year, according to a June 25   
   report from Citigroup Inc.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)