Exclusive: U.S. agency gives quiet nod to light oil exports – sources | Reuters.
(Reuters) – The main U.S. export authority is telling some oil companies that they should consider exporting a lightly processed form of crude oil called condensate without formal permission, according to people familiar with the discussions.
In conversations that may help clear the way for more overseas sales of U.S. shale oil, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has told companies seeking clarification on the legal status of so-called “processed condensate” that self-classification – whereby companies export their product without any formal authorization – could be a way forward, the people told Reuters.
An official familiar with the law said the agency’s discussions did not represent a change in policy since self-classification is allowed under U.S. export controls and is a routine, common practice for the majority of exports.
Yet the message, though carefully couched as an informal suggestion, marks the first sign that the administration is becoming comfortable about allowing companies to work around the nation’s four-decades-old ban on exporting untreated crude oil.
