The world can’t get enough U.S. energy, keeping prices high for Americans

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The world is making a run on U.S. energy, setting American motorists and foreign buyers on a collision course.President Trump and his administration have successfully talked down and taken measures to contain American energy prices. That, combined with the fact that the country has a huge surplus, has prompted overseas buyers to buy huge volumes of U.S.

oil, gasoline, jet fuel and other products they aren’t getting from the Middle East. U.S. oil prices settled Friday at $105.42 a barrel, down more than $7 from last month’s high.For now, the U.S.

has been able to meet needs at home and replace some of the missing Gulf barrels. No nation in the world’s history has ever exported as much energy: It shipped 14.2 million barrels of crude and products a day late last month—the rough equivalent of one out of seven barrels consumed globally in ordinary times.The U.S. exported 2.7 million barrels of U.S.

diesel, gasoline and other refined products to Australia in March, according to Kpler. Before the war broke out, exports there had been sporadic. An additional 1.8 million barrels headed to Australia in April.Rick Hessling, Marathon Petroleum’s chief commercial officer, told analysts earlier this month that the company’s Los Angeles refinery has sent diesel to Australia for the first time, and that the firm has also moved naphtha, a petrochemical used in paints and inks, to Asia—also a first.“We really were creative and made some unique movements on the export class of trade this past quarter,” he said.These foreign buyers are helping push prices higher in the state.