Importing European oil

What they failed to notice is this: since the hurricanes shredded our Gulf of Mexico oil and gas capacity, Europe has been sending us 2 million barrels of crude oil and "refined product" a day from its collective strategic petroleum reserve. The "refined product" includes 800,000 barrels of gasoline, plus diesel, aviation, and heating fuel. Meanwhile, US domestic production has fallen to around 4 million barrels of conventional crude a day. America uses close to 22 million barrels of oil a day. Bottom line: post-hurricane, total imports have accounted for 80 percent of America's oil consumption.

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Now, the important part of all this is that last week the International Energy Agency (IEA), Europe's energy security watchdog, declared that it would now end the 2 million barrel a day shipments to the US. Not because they are hateful meanies, but because, after all, it is Europe's strategic reserve and they can't sell it all to us because, well, some strategic emergency might come up for them, too.

It will take a few weeks for the last of Europe's tankers to offload supplies and for the various fuels to work their way through the US fuels retail system. With US production and refining still crippled, we can look forward to watching the price of gasoline, heating oil, diesel and aviation fuel kick back up through Thanksgiving and on into the heart of the Christmas shopping season. At the same time, homeowners will be getting their first substantial heating bills of the season.

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2005/11/attention_defic.html

By the way the only reason Europe dumped this oil on the US was that the US was panic buying. i.e. pushing the price up all over the world so the US could replace its losses in oil supplies. Europe supplied oil to the US to knock down the price for EUROPE.

9/7/2005 Paris --- IEA Executive Director Claude Mandil announced today the initial composition of the IEA's collective action to make available crude oil and products in response to supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina. In an act of solidarity, all 26 IEA member countries, in cooperation with the EU, agreed on 2nd September to offer an additional 60 million barrels to the market over 30 days. The breakdown of their contribution is now available:
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* North America is offering the biggest contribution of total response (52%), followed by Europe (30%) and the Pacific region (18%), based on agreed shares of consumption.


* Countries have committed to draw stocks at the rate of nearly 2 million barrels per day, of which 1,289 kb/d is crude oil and 683 kb/d is product stock consisting of 369 kb/d, motor gasoline, 276 kb/d, middle distillates and 38 kb/d fuel oil.


* Outside the U.S., the largest stockdraw contribution will be 545 kb/d of finished products from Europe, consisting of 317 kb/d, motor gasoline, 190 kb/d, middle distillates and 38 kb/d, fuel oil.

IEA Press Release, 7th Sept

10/20/2005 Paris --- The IEA Governing Board today reviewed its initial collective response action of 2 September 2005 to disrupted oil supplies in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and agreed to allow volumes of crude oil and oil products from the IEA’s original offer of 60 million barrels, not yet taken up, to remain available to the market. The IEA will continue to assess the market and the Governing Board reiterated its preparedness to take additional co-ordinated action, if necessary, to address possible future shortages in products and crude oil, caused by the cumulative damage left by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, or indeed, other unanticipated supply losses. Flexibility will be used in replenishing IEA emergency oil stocks through 2006, taking into account the seasonality of demand and the upcoming heating season in the northern hemisphere.

IEA Press Release 20th Oct