The European Union wants the United States to lift the ban on crude oil exports, Washington Post reports citing the confidential document. The Ukrainian crisis is said to be one of the main arguments for the possible cooperation in the energy sector.
The European alliance has already announced its intention to import crude oil from the U.S. Now, the EU officials claim that instable political situation in Ukraine might provoke disruptions in oil supply from Russia and Eastern countries. The unrest in Ukraine proves the fact that the EU is highly dependent on energy resources, an unofficial document of the European Commission says. This document was issued ahead of the next round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Washington Post writes.
The writing suggests that both parties like the idea of creating a free trade zone in words, but in deeds the United States upsets this arrangement by banning exports. The possible ban removing might be able to show some countries, especially China, that both America and the EU clearly intend to break down economic barriers. According to the authors of the document, the existing limitation on crude oil exports enables the resource-rich nations to set out their own trading rules, thus hurting the European economy.
Despite the falling oil consumption in Europe, the Old World is not ready yet to switch to the renewable energy, thus they remain heavily dependent on the black gold imports. Washington Post points out that 39% of oil consumed by the EU is imported from the Middle East and Africa, while 42% of it comes from the post-Soviet countries.
The European Union hopes that Germany, which is largely reliant on the oil from abroad and still remains one of the key EU members, will be able to push the single currency bloc to negotiate on issues relating to crude deliveries diversification.
An important point to remember is that the United States imposed the ban in 1975 amid the world prices hikes and low national oil output. Since that time, the situation has changed dramatically. Today, the U.S. is considered to be one of the leading oil and gas producers in the world outpacing the Saudi Arabia.
However, in June, the White House stated that America is not going to remove the oil export limitation. In the meantime, somebody leaked information that the authorities eased the ban for two companies and allowed them to export a type of ultralight oil as a condensate overseas together with gasoline and diesel fuel.
