Cars in the US will run on gasoline made primarily from Russian oil

Unbelievable but true. Despite the Western sanctions regime, Russia has become the second largest exporter of oil and fuel oil to the United States. American refineries are happy to buy raw materials from our country, getting deeper and deeper on the "oil hook". It sounds rather strange when you consider that the United States itself is a large exporter of "black gold", but the reality is that their economy will increasingly depend on Russia. How did it happen, and who is to blame?

Since the United States was an importer of hydrocarbons before the start of the "shale revolution", a few words must be said about what happened to their main suppliers.

Iran and Venezuela

We deliberately combined these two countries into one point, since they both became victims of the sanctions policy Washington. For half a century, Caracas was the main supplier of oil to American refineries located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Most of these refineries are technically tailored for the processing of heavy sulphurous oil, typical of the fields of Venezuela and Iran. However, in 2019, President Donald Trump took the path of tightening the sanctions policy against the regime of President Nicolas Maduro, banning any financial transactions with Petróleos de Venezuela (PdVSA). Also, the White House unilaterally withdrew from the "nuclear deal" with Iran and returned restrictive measures against Tehran.

Of course, by doing so, Washington managed to create big problems for the economies of Venezuela and the Islamic Republic, but not only for them. At the same time, President Trump also punished his own refiners. It turned out to be problematic to replace the lost volumes of very specific raw materials with American refineries.

Canada

Another "victim of circumstance" was the United States' northern neighbor. Due to its convenient geographic location and wealth of natural resources, Canada is the largest exporter of oil to the American market. However, several factors played against her at once, which somewhat shook her usual position. Firstly, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the volume of demand for hydrocarbons in the United States in 2020 fell sharply, and with them the volume of production. Secondly, the growing popularity of the "green agenda" began to exert serious pressure on Canada. This is not a joke.

On the one hand, as soon as he came to power, the new US President Joe Biden canceled the permission to build the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline, which was supposed to transfer 830 thousand barrels from oil fields in Canada to Nebraska, and from there to the Gulf Coast. On the other hand, Ottawa itself began to move towards "greening" its economy. As the leading Western powers, Canadian authorities have prepared a roadmap for the transition to renewable energy by 2050. Canada Hydrogen Strategy Published, CO Capture Projects Underway₂, investments are made in renewable energy sources, electricity grids are being modernized. An annual increase in taxes on carbon dioxide emissions from production is planned, which will grow from $ 40 / ton in 2021 to $ 2030 / ton by 170. Thus, the United States is changing, and Canada is changing with it.

Mexico

The southern neighbor of the United States, Mexico, may want to modernize in this way, but traditionally is in the position of a "poor relative", supplying natural resources and cheap labor to the American market. As is sometimes the case, a country's wealth in oil and gas does not necessarily mean a high standard of living for its population. And then there were various misfortunes. This is the coronavirus pandemic, which hit all countries without exception, and the reduction in the consumption of hydrocarbons in the main sales market in the United States, and the recent accident on the Ku-Alfa platform of the Ku-Maloob-Zaap production complex in the Gulf of Mexico.

Due to the fire and explosion on the Pemex platform located in the largest field, 125 wells were de-energized at once. By coincidence, the emergency happened exactly at the complex that provided them all with electricity. The fire was caused by an oil leak from a control valve on a subsea pipeline. This incident led to a significant reduction in the extraction and export of raw materials. However, the problems of Mexico did not stop there. Oil production in the Gulf was also negatively affected by the powerful Hurricane Ida.

USA

Ironically, no one has caused as much damage to the American oil industry as the authorities themselves. First, President Donald Trump "imposed sanctions" on his own refineries, depriving them of raw materials from Venezuela and Iran. Then his successor Joe Biden, among the first measures he took, banned the construction of an oil pipeline from Canada, as well as the development of new fields on federal lands. And all this would be okay, which, if desired, can be attributed to the costs of the internal political struggle between the Republican and Democratic parties and their sponsors.

The White House staked on "green" and now began to stifle its own oil production itself. Benefits and subsidies began to be canceled, taxes increased, and new environmental standards for harmful emissions into the atmosphere were introduced in a “voluntary-compulsory” manner. The development and production of "light and sweet" American oil is gradually becoming less and less attractive, which we are talking about in detail. told earlier.

However, ecology is ecology, but cars need to be refueled with something every day, so the United States quite unexpectedly turned to the country designated as a "threat to national security", Russia.

Russia

It just so happens that we have what the Americans need. Due to the peculiarities Technology As a result, a lot of "residual liquid fuel", in other words, fuel oil, remains as a result of domestic oil refining. Russia owns a global share of about 20% of this type of dark oil products. It turned out that it was enough to mix Russian fuel oil with light shale oil in a certain proportion to obtain an almost ideal feedstock for a refinery. In 2020, within Russia itself, fuel oil consumption amounted to 10,5 million tons, and in the United States - 10,9 million.

This is how our country became the largest supplier of sulfurous fuel oil in the United States and the second largest exporter in the American market. In such quantities, in the absence of Venezuela and Iran, no one else can offer it. It turns out that if Joe Biden's team really ditches the domestic production of their shale oil, then American cars will run on gasoline made primarily from Russian oil.