American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2020 - 14

IndustryDigest
U.S. Petroleum Exports
Exceed Imports For
Month Of September
WASHINGTON-Petroleum exports
from the United States exceeded
imports for the month of September, the
first month this has happened since
monthly record keeping began in 1973,
the U.S. Energy Information
Administration says.
The United States imported 260.0
million barrels of crude oil and
petroleum products in September while
exporting a total of 262.7 MMbbl, EIA
details. It says long-running changes in
U.S. trade patterns for both crude oil
and petroleum products led to a steady
decrease in overall net imports and the
month's 89,000 barrel a day difference.
According to the agency, increasing
domestic crude oil production, which
rose from an average of 5.3 MMbbl/d in
2009 to 12.1 MMbbl/d in 2019 is
responsible for slashing crude oil
imports from 9.0 MMbbl/d a decade
ago to 7.0 MMbbl/d in 2019. It adds the
decrease in volume corresponds with a
decline in the number of sources from
which the United States imports oil.
The United States lifted restrictions
on exporting domestically produced
crude oil in December 2015. Since then,
EIA says, domestic crude exports have
been the largest contributor to the
nation's export growth, with oil exports
expanding from 591,000 bbl/d in 2016
to 2.8 MMbbl/d in September.
"Despite increasing exports of crude
oil, however, the United States remains
a net importer of crude oil," the agency
writes. "The United States continues
importing primarily heavy high-sulfur
crude oils that most U.S. refineries are
configured to process, and more than
60% of U.S. crude imports come from
Canada and Mexico."
At the same time, U.S. refineries
responded to increasing domestic and
international demand for petroleum
products, including distillate fuel, motor
gasoline and jet fuel, by increasing
throughput, EIA says. Gross inputs into
U.S. refineries rose from an annual
average of 14.6 MMbbl/d in 2009 to
17.0 MMbbl/d through the third quarter
of 2019. This increase has outpaced
U.S. consumption, leading to an
increase in petroleum product exports.
EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook
predicts U.S. net petroleum exports
14 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

will continue to increase, averaging
751,000 bbl/d in 2020. If realized, it
says, the United States would be a net
petroleum exporter for the first time on
an annual basis. ❒

13 States File Defense
Of Proposed Changes
To ESA Regulations
OAKLAND, CA.-Republican
attorneys general from 13 states are
defending rule changes to the
Endangered Species Act proposed by
President Donald Trump. The states
filed a petition Sept. 25 to intervene in
State of California v. David Bernhardt,
a lawsuit filed by a coalition of 17
states, the District of Columbia and
New York City asking the court to
repeal the revisions.
The dueling lawsuits in the U.S.
District Court, Northern District of
California, Oakland Division, follow
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and
National Marine Fisheries Service
promulgating three separate final rules
affecting ESA requirements. Those
revisions arise out of the agencies'
settlement of litigation challenging
rules they issued in 2016.
According to the coalition of 17
states, the changes violate the plain
language and purpose of the act, lack
any reasoned basis, and violate both the
Administrative Procedure Act and
National Environmental Policy Act
(AOGR, October 2019, pg. 123).
Led by Alabama Attorney General
Steve Marshall, the Republican group-
consisting of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona,
Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota,
Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming-filed
its defense of the ESA revisions.
According to their filing, those states
say if the ESA revisions are blocked,
their states will be harmed by
unnecessary and unlawful regulatory
burdens, and the ability of states,
nonprofit groups and landowners to
creatively cooperate to help endangered
or threatened species will be reduced.
"In addition to rescinding the 2016
regulations, the new rules are designed
to make the regulatory process more
predictable and transparent, streamline
interagency cooperation and spur
innovation by states and other
stakeholders to protect at-risk species,"

the Republican AG petition states. "As
their titles indicate, the rules concern
three broad categories related to the
services' administration of the ESA:
· Regulations for listing species and
designating critical habitat;
· Regulations prohibiting 'take' of
threatened wildlife and plants; and
· Regulations governing
interagency cooperation."
The Republican AGs contend there is
more room under the revised rules for
states to take the lead in protecting
threatened species in ways that also
protect landowners' rights to make
reasonable use of their properties. Such
cooperative federalism was possible
under the prior rules, but it was onerous,
requiring either a special permit or a
species-specific rule.
"By removing the blanket extension
for threatened species, the new rules
provide for a more tailored approach by
which FWS may determine that the state's
regulation of the species is adequate-or it
may issue a species-specific rule," the
Republican AGs state. ❒

Judge Says ExxonMobil
Innocent Of All Charges
In New York Fraud Case
NEW YORK-A New York judge
says the state's attorney general failed
to prove that ExxonMobil misled
investors about the risk of climate
change. New York State Supreme Court
judge Barry Ostrager's ruling ended a
three-week civil trial in which AG
Letitia James could not demonstrate the
company violated the state's anti-fraud
statutes, including the Martin Act, or
other similar laws.
According to court documents,
James alleged ExxonMobil engaged in
a "longstanding fraudulent scheme"
"sanctioned at the highest levels of the
company" to create the illusion that it
had fully considered the risks of climate
change legislation and had factored
those risks into its business operations.
Court papers say the New York
attorney general alleged that since 2013
ExxonMobil released written reports
and oral statements that tended to
mislead the public in violation of the
state's Martin Act.
Ostrager's decision says ExxonMobil
doesn't dispute that its operations
produced greenhouse gases or that those
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