Bloomberg: By Javier Blas March 25, 2019, 10:01 PM MDT Updated on March 26, 2019, 9:50 AM MDT
American petroleum exports to overtake Russia within 5 years
Second wave of U.S. shale revolution to hit geopolitics: IEA
Oil trader Paul Vega is at the vanguard of shale’s next revolution.
Driving his pick-up truck through the heartland of the Permian basin — the vast tract of west Texas scrub where one of history’s greatest oil booms means miles-long traffic jams — Vega says there’s more crude being pumped than America’s refineries can absorb. Today, the primary task of trading houses like his is getting the stuff overseas.
“We buy it, we truck it, we put it on a pipeline, and there it goes to the port — and from there to the world,” said Vega, who heads the office of global commodities trader Trafigura Group in Midland, the region’s oil industry hub.
What started as an American phenomenon is now being felt around the world as U.S. oil exports surge to levels unthinkable only a few years ago. The flow of crude will keep growing over the next few years with huge consequences for the oil industry, global politics and even whole economies. OPEC, for example, will face challenges keeping oil prices high, while Washington has a new, and potent, diplomatic weapon. Read more…