|
If you really want to go after those evil American oil companies "that are shipping U.S. petroleum products to other countries," the solution is easy, of course.
As noted, 90% of these exports go to the 30 countries above.
1. Divide them into four clusters:
a. Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China
b. Singapore, India, Australia, Thailand, South Africa
c. Mexico, Panama, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Bahamas, Jamaica, Honduras, Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador and Argentina
d. The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Great Britain, Spain, Israel
2. Build a refinery in Canada. Route Canadian crude oil which would be coming to a US refinery to this one. Sell some of the petroleum products and fuel oil to Canadian buyers and export the rest across the north Pacific to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China.
3. Build a refinery in India. Route Persian Gulf crude oil which would be coming to a US refinery to this one. Sell some of the petroleum products and fuel oil to Indian buyers and export the rest to the other countries on the Indian Ocean and in the South Pacific set forth in (b) above.
4. Build a refinery in Mexico. Route Mexican and Venezuelan crude here rather than to Texas refineries. Sell some of the petroleum products and fuel oil to Mexican buyers and export the rest to the other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in (c) above (add in the other Western Hemisphere countries not in the top 30, like Costa Rica, El Salvador and Colombia, and you get closer to 95% of US exports).
5. Build a refinery in southern France. Route Algerian, Libyan and maybe some more Persian Gulf oil there rather than to US refineries. Sell some of the petroleum products and fuel oil to French buyers and export the rest to Israel and the other European countries in (d) above.
Voila! The US no longer "ship[s] U.S. petroleum products to other countries". The world is a happier and safer place, at least for Ron Wyden, the US refiners who probably make more profits because of lower overhead in their non-US refineries, and workers and tax collectors in Canada, India, Mexico and France.
|