US-Canadian oil swapping
The United States was once a net exporter of petroleum products. But as domestic demand grew, legislation was passed to bar the export of petroleum products.[1] An exception is US-Canadian oil swapping.
Canada has large petroleum reserves in its tar sands.[1] The petroleum in tar sands are not technically crude oil, as it is too viscous to flow at room temperature. To ship petroleum products from tar sands in a pipeline, the pipeline can be heated; or it can be mixed with lighter petroleum fractions, to reduce its room temperature viscosity; or it can be distilled in refineries equipped to "crack" the longest and most viscous petroleum fractions.
In the 2010s the United States had local surpluses of light petroleum components.[1] Light, volatile, petroleum fractions like butane and propane, can also not be considered "crude oil", because they evaporate at room temperature. Therefore they can be exported to Canada without violating the restriction against exporting crude oil. Surpluses of naturally occurring American light crude oil can also be exported to Canada, if it is balanced by imports of equivalent amounts of other petroleum products.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 John Kemp (2012-10-15). "U.S. crude oil exports may be inevitable" (in English). London: Financial Post. Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbusiness.financialpost.com%2F2012%2F10%2F15%2Fu-s-crude-oil-exports-may-be-inevitable%2F&date=2012-11-05. "Less well-known is that record volumes of light hydrocarbons such as propane, butane and pentane are already being exported, as oil and gas producers seek alternative markets for the prodigious quantity of natural gas liquids (NGLs) now being produced alongside oil and gas from shale formations."
