clownboy
DP Veteran
- Joined
- May 22, 2012
- Messages
- 26,087
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- Location
- Oregon
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Other
A bit of history: Two major tribes were at war and the desolate stretch of land where oil was first discovered in SA (by an American oil company) was the agreed upon DMZ. The oil companies were handing out cash waterfalls to whomever would say they owned the land and would sign an agreement. One of the leaders of the warring tribes decided to claim the DMZ, broke the treaty and won the war taking the territory. This, after more war and expansion became the House of Saud, nearly 100% financed by oil contracts with the West.
So, it was oil companies, looking to contract for the extraction of resources, that funded the rise of Saudi Arabia.
As for oil imports here in the US. As mentioned we have the refineries, but not only that, we have the different types of refining capacity that no one else has. We can refine heavy crude to light sweet (most of the world's other refineries can do only light sweet). We're one of the only ones who can do heavy crude - that's why we're so important to Venezuela and why they established Citgo here.
We are in the business of refining oil and distributing the products to the world. We make a ton of money doing that. However, the problem is twofold:
1) we now have some competition and supply is dwindling (not rapidly, but still).
2) we've allowed the oil companies and the suppliers to structure and control the market. Of course they do this with profit being the ultimate consideration. This has also had the effect of discouraging our legislators from taking the proper cut from the sales for use by the people of the US.
Globalization has had the effect of taking the control of the oil market even farther from our grasp.
So, it was oil companies, looking to contract for the extraction of resources, that funded the rise of Saudi Arabia.
As for oil imports here in the US. As mentioned we have the refineries, but not only that, we have the different types of refining capacity that no one else has. We can refine heavy crude to light sweet (most of the world's other refineries can do only light sweet). We're one of the only ones who can do heavy crude - that's why we're so important to Venezuela and why they established Citgo here.
We are in the business of refining oil and distributing the products to the world. We make a ton of money doing that. However, the problem is twofold:
1) we now have some competition and supply is dwindling (not rapidly, but still).
2) we've allowed the oil companies and the suppliers to structure and control the market. Of course they do this with profit being the ultimate consideration. This has also had the effect of discouraging our legislators from taking the proper cut from the sales for use by the people of the US.
Globalization has had the effect of taking the control of the oil market even farther from our grasp.
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