Grace Connors
AP Biology – Article Review #2
“Route Proposals May Ease an Oil Pipeline Bottleneck,” written Ian Austen examines the problems with the Keystone pipeline; that there is simply a shortage of pipeline capacity to carry the oil from the main terminal, located in Cushing, Oklahoma, to the Gulf Coast. This pipeline, which both TransCanada and Enbridge hope to get off the ground by January, has the immediate problem of growing glut of oil in Cushing, which will be the final destination. The lack of pipeline capacity from Cushing leads to excessive stockpiles at the oil terminal. This has, in turn, depressed the price of West Texas Intermediate, the crude oil company, by as much as $27.88 a barrel, in the recent months. The Cushing bottleneck remains the largest issue for this pipeline yet. The two new projects that could possibly relieve the bottleneck have exciting the American oil prices up to $102.60, the highest level seen since June. However, the state department delayed the approval process for the 1,700 mile Keystone XL pipeline until after the next presidential election because of intense pressure from the environmentalists, who currently oppose the messy process of taking oil from oil sands.
This is incredibly important now because Keystone XL will not be transporting more oil from Canada, and the existing cross-border pipelines will run out between 2015 and 2017. So now, refineries in the Gulf Coast are looking to replace the lost supplies with countries like Venezuela, who has a tense relationship with the United States. If the Keystone XL pipeline was completely, the Canadian oil sands producers could have access to the markets in the gulf coast, but as it is, the Venezuelan markets are being accessed by many of the gulf refineries. Enbridge has even come up with a solution by building a seaway pipeline that will not cross international borders as to ensure that there are no political ramifications, but the Seaway pipeline can only offer half the capacity that the Keystone XL pipeline could.
This article is extremely well presented in that the author captures the intensity of the need for oil, and how countries need to be ruthless, especially the United States, in its pursuit. However, the author failed to exactly spell out the exact problems with the Cushing Bottleneck and therefore why Cushing, Oklahoma needs to be accessed. The author also failed to examine any environmental problems with the pipeline, especially the Seaway pipeline and why only half the capacity of the Keystone XL pipeline can be reached using the Seaway concept. Overall, this article was an excellent glimpse on the struggle for oil, but missing some key facts that could have enhanced the overall objectiveness of the piece.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/business/energy-environment/route-proposals-may-ease-an-oil-pipeline-bottleneck.html?ref=science
I found Grace’s review on Ian Austin’s article to be very interesting and comprehensive. One point Grace presented very well is the fact that the glut of oil at Cushing was causing oil prices to become depreciated. In fact, the over supply of oil caused West Texas Intermediate’s price of crude oil per barrel to drop to $27.88. Another point she presented lucidly is why the government delayed the approval process for 1,700 miles of Keystone XL pipeline. Even though the addition of this pipeline would help get rid of the excess oil that is being stored at Cushing, pressure from environmentalists has caused the project to be delayed until after the 2012 presidential election. One more point Grace presented well was a flaw within the article. Grace expresses that the author was too vague when it came to defining the problems with the Cushing bottleneck, a view I personally agree with.
ReplyDeleteWhile her article was interesting there are a few ways in which it can be improved. First, her review contains sentences, which are simply missing words. For example, in the first sentence there needs to be a “by” before Ian and in the second sentence there should be an “a” before growing. Another way she could have improved her review is by mentioning that there is an alternative to building a completely new pipeline. The article mentions that expanding the Seaway Pipeline has been considered a viable option.
One fact that really amazed me was Grace’s statement on how this would affect the Gulf. The cross-border pipelines are set to run out between 2015-2017, and Keystone will not be importing any more oil from Canada. This is causing refineries in the Gulf to look towards Venezuela for when the current oil supplies run out. If action is not taken, it is possible that more North American oil becomes imported, causing Americans jobs in the process.