US to Join World's Biggest Oil Exporters if Crude Oil Export Ban Lifted

The United States could become one of the world's biggest oil exporters the government lifts ban on crude oil exports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United States could become one of the world's biggest oil exporters if its oil production volume continues to soar and the government lifts a four-decade ban on crude oil exports, a study said Wednesday.

Washington introduced an export ban on crude oil in the 1970s in response to the OPEC oil crisis, which led to a rapid rise in world oil prices.

According to the analysis by consulting firm Turner, Mason & Co for the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States could send up to 2.4 million barrels a day overseas in 2025 if policy makers eliminate restrictions on crude oil export.

"In a scenario without crude export restrictions, crude exports increase to 2.4 million bb/d in 2025," the study read.

That would make the country the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, based on 2013 EIA estimates.

Local energy manufacturers such as Harold Hamm of Continental Resources Inc. and John Hess of Hess Corp., have repeatedly called on the authorities to lift the ban on exports.

Earlier in May, US Chamber of Commerce Energy Institute President Karen Harbert said that eliminating the ban on crude oil exports would boost the US economy by creating jobs, generating revenue and keeping prices low for business and customers.