{"id":36001,"date":"2014-04-15T09:44:43","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T14:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=36001"},"modified":"2014-04-15T15:39:13","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T20:39:13","slug":"as-an-oil-glut-moves-debate-ignites-over-exporting-u-s-crude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/04\/15\/as-an-oil-glut-moves-debate-ignites-over-exporting-u-s-crude\/","title":{"rendered":"As Oil Glut Moves, Debate Ignites Over Exporting U.S. Crude"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A crude oil storage tank in Cushing, Oklahoma. For years there was a glut of crude there.<\/p><\/div>\n

The United States has never exported much crude oil. We use so much of the stuff that we\u2019ve always needed to import it from other countries. But even if we wanted to ship it away, there are laws that ban most all overseas crude exports. Now, as domestic drilling continues to surge, some are calling for the repeal of those laws.<\/p>\n

To understand why, it helps to remember the ‘Cushing Glut.’<\/p>\n

If you pay attention to the oil business, you might remember the glut. It’s a bottleneck of crude oil \u2013 much of it unleashed through fracking in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale — shipped to Cushing, Oklahoma in pipelines, then trapped there.<\/p>\n

Hannah Breul is an industry economist with the U.S. Energy Information Administration<\/a> who studied that bottleneck. She says the mechanics of the glut are about as simple as household plumbing.<\/p>\n