There has been no change in the status of the Keystone XL pipeline.

White House gives blessing to partial Keystone XL construction

TransCanada, which has been working for years to win federal approval of Keystone XL, said Monday that it will begin construction on a section of the pipeline that runs from Cushing, Okla., to Texas.

The White House quickly reiterated its support for the pipeline segment, which would carry crude oil pumped from land in the Midwest and surrounding areas to refineries in Texas. The pipeline can't be extended to carry oil sands crude from Canada until the company receives a cross-border permit from the State Department, a permit the president rejected in January.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101461817

It has zilch to do with tar sands. It's for domestically produced oil.

Didn't see Ratigan show.

Pipeline;
Refinery capacity;
Political turmoil in XYZ;
Increase in tanker rates;
blah, blah, blah.

Because if it is this sure smells like blackmail to me.

I don't have enough posts to start a new topic, so if someone here could be so kind and post this. The president of Ireland on the Tea Party and Sarah Palin....Epic piece!

Maybe it has been already posted..if that is the case I apologize.

http://freakoutnation.com/2012/02/28/president-of-ireland-smacksdown-tea-party-talk-show-host-and-sarah-palin/

Much of Keystone has already been built...From Canada to Kansas, and then to Chicago. Yesterday a decision was made to build an Oklahoma/Texas portion....which as far as I know does not need any type of approval from the executive branch, since it does not cross a national border.

The part of the line which is in contention, is another line from Canada, through the Dakotas, through the Nebraska area which has caused environmental concerns, and Kansas...to connect with this Oklahoma segment. In other words, the current pipeline has capacity to feed refineries in Chicago, but not enough to feed the Texas refineries...thus the need for a new pipeline.

I think they just figured out that they could do a flip-flop: feed Texas, and send less to Chicago. I think the differential in US Crude and Brent crude is something like $30 right now...giving them strong incentive to get this on the international market, from the Texas terminal. That is forecasted to drop to around $5 soon though, reducing the incentive to build any more.

As far as blackmail goes...I doubt it. Its not oil that is high (well it is high, but not the controlling factor). Its gasoline. Lots of reasons - futures speculation, exports from this country, and loss of interchangeability coming up due to summer blend requirements. The last time gas was this high, oil was $140...now its $105, so it is not the controlling factor.

My prediction - gas will not get significantly higher than $4.00 (I'd guess $4.25 in the midwest). This is because there seems to be a psychological breaking point at the $4.00 mark. When it gets that high, people will indeed drive less. And...my hope is some futures buyers lose their shirts.

It's the last gasp before prices go down.

Or.....

speculation.

Or.....