Are you saying that Bow River crude oil is not as pure as Wyoming sour crude oil? Why do you say that it takes longer to refine Canadian crude oil than to refine USA crude oil? How about comparisons with Arabian Heavy or Libyan Essider? Are you only looking at oil sands production or are you also looking at Canadian Light Sweet crude oils? Not all crude oils are the same.
Each and every refinery is basically a still that seperates molecules by size. Other refinery operations, such as hydrogen units, cat crackers, cokers, reformers, etc. are used to alter molecules. Refineries are not all the same. Some have larger hydrogen units beause they were designed to run sour crude. Some have cokers to break down very large molecules.
Each refinery is designed to produce a "slate" of products. Their facilities, "units" are used to produce that "slate". Gasoline is one product in a refinery's
"slate". Some USA crude oils are waxy. Some crudes produce more diesel fuel. Some produce more gasoline. The refineries running waxy crudes provide a different "slate" than do refineries running other crudes.
The reason that refineries were built where they are and are designed to refine certain crude oils comes down to the crude oils available at the time the refinery was built. Of course that has changed over the years as certain crude oil fields are no longer in full operation and new fields come into production. The construction of crude oil pipelines, crude oil vessels, and harbors has made it possible to replace dying crude oil fields with new crude oil sources.
It is much easier to move gasoline than it is to move crude oil. It does not work to move refineries from one place to another as crude oil fields die. We need to move crude oil from the current supplies to where the refineries are today. Pipelines are the most efficient ways to move crude oil. Vessels are also efficient, but need pipelines to connect the ships to refineries.
Canadian crude oils are significantly lower in price than the crudes we import from the Mideast. Yesterday the posted price for West Texas Intermediate was $104/bbl. Canadian Sweet Crude Oil was priced at $80/bbl. If we are concerned about how much gasoline costs on the street, saving 25% on some crude costs has a huge impact. Instead, our elected leaders in Washington are asking Saudi Arabia to ramp up crude oil supplies of expensive crudes, many priced higher than West Texas Intermediate.
All of the West Texas Ingtermediate is being refined toay. To keep our refineries running efficiently, we need to import other crudes. Do you want Canadian Light Sweet crude at $80/bbl or Arabian Light at $117/bbl? How about oil sands crudes at much lower prices for the refineries able to refine heavy sour crudes?
We also need to look at products other than gasoline and diesel fuel. Light sweet crude oils do not make much heavy products, such as fuel oil and asphalt. These are products also in demand across the continent. To make fuel oils used to power ocean going vessels, or asphalt to build highways and driveways, we need to refine heavy crude oils. Other products such as jet fuel, propane and butane are in demand.
If, what we are told is true, that we need to import crude oil to keep our refineries running at efficient levels, it makes much more sense to import Canadian crudes than to import Russian, South American, and mid-eastern crude oils.
If we must import crude oil to keep our refineries running efficiantly, it also makes sense to build a pipeline to service the Bakken fields. That pipeline would connect to the pipeline coming south from Canada. Instead, our Washington insiders are saying no pipelines. They prefer to buy more from Arabia or South America.
Our Washington insiders are looking only at what makes headlines today. They also need to look at what we need tomorrow.
