To Lift or Not to Lift? The U.S. Crude Oil Export Ban: Implications for Price and Energy Security

In the past few years, innovative techniques involving the use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have triggered unprecedented increases in production of crude oil from shale in the United States. This domestic production surge has reduced US crude oil imports and led some to call for an end to the 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports. In this paper, we lay out a framework for discussing the issues germane to this debate and apply empirical tools to evaluate these matters. We find evidence that the export ban already presents a binding constraint on the domestic market. We develop an approach based on a hedonic pricing method to evaluate the discounts being realized on West Texas Intermediate…