Trump says "We don't use the strait."... So, we are the policeman of the world?

[Norrrm]

I thought republicans were against that meme.

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3mj6bj6eivb2j?ref_src=embed&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.democraticunderground.com%252F100221164447

[Walleye]

1. The people running this mess don't understand the international oil market

Or they do understand it and they’re lying to keep things muddled up with maga. They don’t understand that there’s really no such thing as “our oil”

[Norrrm]

2. Bazinga! If "We don't use the strait" was true, our energy prices would not have gone up.

Actually, Donald brags how much we are making by selling our oil, while making us buy the expensive world oil.

Could we just use our own oil instead of selling it?

Wouldn't that keep our energy prices down?

[AZJonnie]

3. Not really. And if we did it would probably still raise prices

All US refineries are 40+ years old, and optimized more for the type of oil the US was producing in abundance from 1910-1980 (roughly, "heavy sour" crude). The oil from fracking (roughly "light sweet", which is like 40% of what we now produce) is a different type that our refineries are not well suited for. So the "our" fracked oil, about 4M barrels/day is sold to countries with refineries it's better suited for, and then "we" import (even more than we sell on a daily basis) like 5M barrels/day of heavy sour from CA, Mexico, Venezuela, and even some from the ME. Note that our sweet light oil also sells for more $ on the world market than sour crude costs to buy, so it works out in "our" economic favor to do things this way.

Basically it would require a massive retooling of a lot of refineries to get them to process sweet light efficiently, so "we" could replace "our" imports with "our own" crude, and also the US would be slightly impoverished cause "we" make a nice margin by selling light sweet and importing heavy sour in it's stead, for domestic use.

[Norrrm]

4. Thanks. Good explanation. Funny how simple answers get so complicated.

[Norrrm]

5. Found some more good info on oil. (Jan 8)... If oil gets too cheap, it gets left behind.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143595031

Trump plans to use Venezuela's huge crude reserves 'to cut US oil price to $50 a barrel'

[AZJonnie]

6. Right. VZ oil is perfect for our refineries cause it's much like pre-fracking US oil.

In fact, VZ also sends us THEIR oil for us to refine FOR them i.e. to turn it into derivatives like gasoline for them, to sell to their international clients. But the only way Trump's plan 'works' if the US simply requisitions the VZ oil supply and says "we're giving you $40/barrel for it and you're giving it all to the USA". Then a major feedstock used to make gas in the USA would be cheap, and the frackers would still sell their expensive light sweet to the rest of the world, and the US probably could have cheaper gasoline. That theft, however, would not bring down WORLD oil prices one bit, in fact they'd likely go up.

You can see how, to a narcissistic fucking sociopath (and rank simpleton) like Trump, stealing VZ's oil makes a great deal of "sense" given the economics of the situation. Stealing their oil helps HIM HIM HIM, therefore, it's a great idea!

Note how much he seems to want to fuck with Mexico and Canada too? Same reasoning. Those 3 countries sell us a LARGE % of the oil converted to derivatives in our refineries.