8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 1/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Lisa Murkowski709 Hart Senate Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Chairman Murkowski,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 2/22

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 3/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator John Barrasso307 Dirksen Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Barrasso,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 4/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Shelley Capito5 Russell Senate O!ce Building Courtyard Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Capito,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 5/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Bill Cassidy703 Hart Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Cassidy,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 6/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Steve Daines1 Russell Senate O!ce Building Courtyard Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Daines,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 7/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Jeff FlakeRussell Senate O!ce Building 368 Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Flake,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 8/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Cory GardinerDirksen Senate O!ce Building SD-B40B Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Gardiner,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 9/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator John Hoeven338 Russell Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Hoeven,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 10/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Mike Lee316 Hart Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Lee,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 11/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Rob Portman448 Russell Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Portman,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 12/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator James E. Risch483 Russell Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Risch,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 13/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Maria Cantwell511 Hart Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Ranking Member Cantwell,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 14/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Al Franken309 Hart Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Franken,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 15/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Martin Heinrich702 Hart Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Heinrich,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 16/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Mazie Hirono330 Hart Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Hirono,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 17/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Joe Manchin306 Hart Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Manchin,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 18/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Debbie Stabenow731 Hart Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Stabenow,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 19/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Elizabeth Warren317 Hart Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Warren,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 20/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Ron Wyden221 Dirksen Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Wyden,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 21/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Bernie Sanders332 Dirksen Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member Sanders,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,

Doug Grandt

answerthecall@mac.com

8/9/2019 02 Apr 2015 Letter to US Senate Ctee on Energy & Natural Resources

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/02-apr-2015-letter-to-us-senate-ctee-on-energy-natural-resources 22/22

Douglas A. GrandtPO Box 6603

Lincoln, NE 68506  (510) 432-1452

 April 2, 2015 

Senator Angus King359 Dirksen Senate O!ce Building Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Oil Refining - Considering future eventualities versus the myopia of the present (letter #6)

Dear ENR Committee Member King,

Is the U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENT if the oil industry becomes a collapsing houses-of-cards?

• Is “energy security” paying dividends and buying back shares of stock with borrowed money?

•  Is “energy security” production companies going out of business due to the low price of oil?

•  Is “energy security” relying on short-lived “tight oil” requiring ever more drilling and fracking?

• Is “energy security” curtailing investments in wells needed to keep production just “stable”?

• Is “energy security” ExxonMobil doubling the capacity of its Beaumont Refinery by adding “athird crude distillation unit”? (See http://bit.ly/Beaumont31Mar15) Ask CEO Rex Tillerson ifthe that third crude distillation unit might have the sole purpose of exploiting a new loopholethe Obama Administration created—first reported on New Years Eve by 247wallst.com:

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that it hasapproved requests by some companies to export lightly refined condensates….

The news is that the agency has spelled out for the first time (in an FAQ of all places)what the rules are. The agency defines crude oil as liquid hydrocarbons that have notpassed through a distillation tower. The definition includes “reconstituted crudepetroleum, and lease condensate and liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sands,gilsonate, and oil shale.” These may not be exported.

What may be exported are lease condensates that have been “processed through acrude oil distillation tower.” That passage transforms the unexportable crude into anexportable refined petroleum product. As the BIS notes, “Petroleum products aresubject to few export restrictions.”

Why now after months of dithering around? Could it be that the Obama administration

has figured out that exporting near-crude is more likely to keep crude oil costs lowthan it is to raise them. If U.S. crude from shale plays in North Dakota can get into theinternational market, and the Bakken producers can keep their costs under control, theUnited States may be able to take a bit of market share away from the Saudis.

 As a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, please convene andask CEOs if they will supply us fuels when profits fall. How long will they keep rolling the dice?

Sincerely yours,