Exporting crude oil from the US has been a politically divisive issue given given the country’s significant level of import dependence, which has dramatically declined in recent years with the shale gas and tight oil production boom.

This domestic liquids production increase – which is primarily light and sweet – fetches higher prices on the international market than the lower quality grades many refineries along the Gulf Coast have been configured to process. This has led some industry watchers and analysts to suggest that it would make economic sense to export surplus crude and liquids while purchasing cheaper heavy oil from global markets that can be efficiently refined into gasoline and other finished products here in the US.

Experts Michael Lynch, President and Director of Global Petroleum Practice at Strategic Energy and Economic Research and David Rewcastle, Senior Energy Analyst at Source Capital Group discuss the economics and market forces behind the domestic crude export argument in this video segment of a panel hosted by Breaking Energy.