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A comment on Saudi stocks slump as minister warns of ‘painful’ measures ahead. Parent comment

Re:Saudi stocks slump as minister warns of ‘painful’ measure... by arcticbull on Monday May 04, 2020 @03:33AM (#23065440)
The article about why Canada imports oil is interesting. Some of the Maritimes are cut off from pipelines, and aren't set up to refine bitumen. It's actually just cheaper to buy KSA oil than solve these problems. I wonder if this is true in the US since I was under the impression West Texas Intermediate was pretty comparable to Arab Light. I'd love to learn more about the specifics here.
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Re:Saudi stocks slump as minister warns of ‘painful’ measure... by ashtonkem on Monday May 04, 2020 @08:14AM (#23067024)
IIRC many American refineries were retooled at great cost to eat both Canadian and South American oil, which is lower quality than the Arab stuff; nobody expected that fracking would suddenly produce a glut of really high quality oil.

Also, good quality oil can be used to dilute thicker oils to the point where refineries can process them. It’s my understanding that this is how you process Venezuelan oil for example. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that American oil is being exported to blend other stuff before refining.

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