Technical Options for Processing Additional Light Tight Oil Volumes within the United States.

摘要

With the growth in U.S. production of light tight oil (LTO) in recent years, domestic refiners have been processing greater LTO volumes. To date, increased runs of domestic LTO have mainly been facilitated by a reduction of light crude oil imports, particularly to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) and the East Coast. In addition, refinery utilization rates have increased, and some imports of heavier crude types have also been displaced in some U.S. regions. The sharp decline in oil prices in recent months may slow domestic LTO production growth in the immediate future. However, there is significant potential for further growth in domestic LTO production. This is particularly the case in scenarios with favorable resource availability, technology development, and oil prices that rise above their level in early 2015, even if they remain below the range sustained from 2011 through mid-2014. For this reason, there is considerable interest in how additional volumes of domestically produced LTO might be accommodated. This paper focuses on technical options for processing more LTO within the United States. With the rise in domestic production of petroleum products and a general decline in U.S. petroleum product use since 2005, the United States, until recently the world’s largest net importer of petroleum products, is now the world’s largest net exporter of these products. There are no limitations on U.S. trade in petroleum products. Trends in U.S. consumption of petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel fuel reflect prices determined on global product markets, fuel economy and alternative fuel policies, and demographic and economic drivers. Because petroleum product use is not significantly affected by the level of U.S. refining activity, additional processing of crude oil in the United States would likely increase net exports of petroleum products.