Why Canadian oil is so important to the United States

US refineries are built for much heavier crudes than the lower 48 are currently producing. Shale oil tends to be very light and sweet. Can this be used as the sole feedstock for fuel production? Sure it can. But when refineries are tooled for the heavy stuff, you buy some extra heavy crude and cut it into the lighter stuff. Retooling a refinery is very costly and time-consuming. Thats a big investment item. And when climate change propaganda makes you unsure about the long-term prospects of oil and gas, you don’t want to sink that much money into your operations as it takes a long time to amortize those investments. But if Trump can show US refiners that the investment is worth it, they might just go for it. And fewer imports are needed then. 

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