That was certainly not very informative... how about some meat with the potatoes! At least a citation for further reading!
This is a great website for more answers. The import and export of "oil" is very tricky because of what (crude v. refined) is moving.
Factors affecting gasoline prices - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
And yes locally ALL the "gas" comes from the same refinery! They just add different color and additives for each brand! Question is why does one gas station sell it for (last week - Daytona) for $ 3.99 while down the street it's $4.59? It's both "top tier"! Greed! I use an app (the buddy one) and plan my route and fillups. Save $5-$10 per fillup X 52 weeks = $ 260 to $ 520 a year!
I forgot one thing - there is a WAR going on and combined with Covid - all calculations are broken.
BTW I have a degree in petroleum engineering and worked as a ruff neck on drilling rigs !
BAMF
HalfDork
5/27/22 7:13 p.m.
You see, when two dinosaurs really love each other and then get hit by an asteroid....
The real question, where is gas going? 
In reply to BAMF :
That was the thought for a long time and led to the entire theory of peak oil. It's a good thing it's not true.
In reply to f1carguy :
Cool. I used to work for a worldwide gas and oil consultant. If everyone knew how much oil there is in the world and the cost of a barrel of oil in certain parts of the world, people would be even angrier about fuel costs. The main driver in the cost of a barrel of oil is market speculation and the forborten topic of politics. Technology needed and drilling sets the base cost but the two previous factors drive prices up and down rapidly and in big swings. The gasoline producers and stations are always reacting to that.
Oil imports and exports - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
From the website:
Even though U.S. annual total petroleum exports were greater than total petroleum imports in 2020 and 2021, the United States still imported some crude oil and petroleum products from other countries to help to supply domestic demand for petroleum and to supply international markets.
The United States remained a net crude oil importer in 2021, importing about 6.11 million b/d of crude oil and exporting about 2.90 million b/d. However, some of the crude oil that the U.S. imports is refined by U.S. refineries into petroleum products—such as gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuel—that the U.S. exports. Also, some of imported petroleum may be stored and subsequently exported.
So it is not transparent what the oil producers are doing but it looks like funny business to me. We also import low grade crude (lots of sulfur ) from Canada - only to export it and it comes back to us clean and refined!
I can't wait to go all electric! Clean electric from COAL! Haha!
In reply to f1carguy :
It's not really funny. What they didn't mention is that crude oil is not the same world-wide. Each field has different "contaminants" if you will, and it takes refineries that are designed to cope with them to turn the crude oil into something useful. It's why some people in the know laughed when Hugo Chavez threatened to send his Venezuelan crude to China instead of the U. S.; China didn't have the refineries to cope with it, only the U.S. did.
Photography Credit: David Thielen; Unsplash
