Sen. Bill Cassidy is among 21 U.S. senators urging the Obama administration to swiftly authorize an exchange of heavy Mexican crude with light U.S. oil.
FuelFix.com reports at issue is a Pemex affiliate’s request to export 100,000 barrels per day of light U.S. oil and condensates in exchange for heavy Mexican crude—a transaction that can be approved by U.S. regulators on a case-by-case basis under existing trade laws.
“We encourage the Department of Commerce to approve any such applications it has received or may receive from adjacent foreign states such as Mexico,” the senators say in a letter sent to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker on Wednesday. “These potential transactions are in the national interest and, if applied for, should be authorized without delay.”
But the letter, spearheaded by Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Heidi Heitkamp, D-North Dakota, goes beyond championing a possible exchange of U.S. and Mexican crude to endorse a broader affirmation that oil exports to Mexico are in the national interest.
Former President Ronald Reagan issued a similar finding for oil exports to Canada in 1985, and it has remained one of the exceptions to the United States’ ban on exporting crude.
“We believe it would be appropriate to further liberalize energy trading with Mexico,” the senators’ letter reads. “We encourage the current administration to follow President Reagan’s example by issuing a similar finding that United States oil exports to Mexico—for consumption in Mexico—are in the national interest.”
