In short, Mr. Obama is about to hammer the American energy industry, and he's doing it for money.
The real elephant in the room is the Keystone XL pipeline project intended to bring Canadian oil to American Gulf Coast refineries and the resulting products onto the international market. In fact, the title of the Bloomberg article cited above includes the words "Keystone foes." Mr. Obama has already delayed Keystone, once and a final decision is coming up.
While Keystone has received a lot of press attention, there are two interrelated aspects that have not yet come to the surface.
First, as reported by the Dickinson Press in North Dakota on May 15, Lynn Helms, the director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, told the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology that if Keystone is approved, as it comes south, the pipeline would also carry up to 100,000 barrels of sweet North Dakota crude to the American refineries, in addition to the heavier Canadian product. As North Dakota's rate of production increases, the state should be producing in excess of 800,000 barrels per day by the time Keystone passes through, taking at most an eighth of North Dakota's oil production.
Second, Mr. Helms also told the House committee that the North Dakota Department of Transportation estimates moving 100,000 barrels per day by pipeline instead of its current mode of transport would result in three to six fewer traffic deaths per year and up to 150 fewer traffic injuries. Three to six doesn't sound like a lot in comparison to the U.S. national traffic fatalities, but North Dakota has a small population and every death or injury avoided is important to families and loved ones, no matter where they are.
(Excerpt) Read more at rigzone.com ...
