At the same time, industry is urging the administration to take executive action to remove the ban in its entirety, which it has the legal authority to do.
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The United States is now prohibited from exporting its crude oil due to an export ban that was established amid the Arab oil embargo in 1975.
Oil firms and politicians in the US, have been pointing to the glut of production domestically as justification for relaxing the restrictions on crude exports and the Obama administration has been edging in that direction.
Permits should be issued by the US Commerce Department before the end of August and be good for a year. Friday’s decision with Mexico is another limited exception to the ban. The Commerce Department has informed Congress that it will approve a number of licenses to export U.S. crude oil in exchange for Mexican oil. Generally, lighter oils take less refining to make into products than heavier oils.
Congressman Cuellar says many American petroleum refineries are not fully equipped to process light crude oil, the type that is abundant in shale plays across the United States.
Mexico applied for a crude oil swap eight months ago after the US signalled that it was ready to relax the rule, which has been put under pressure by the huge expansion of production.
He added that Pemex has already asked for several price quotes from U.S. crude producers, though he declined to name them. “By lifting our own self-imposed sanctions, we can give U.S. producers the same access to global markets and protect America’s competitive edge”.
Previously only Canada was exempt from the ban on US exports.
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Heitkamp and Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., were among lawmakers who called for the approval of Mexico’s trade request to swap heavy crude for U.S.-produced light sweet crude earlier this year, and both have sponsored legislation pushing to lift the ban on oil exports all together.
