The Homa Files

This was a reply to our post on the Super Skimmer that’s been kept out of the Gulf clean-up.

A different twist on the now famous Jones Act that I thought was pretty interesting.

The Jones Act also plays a part in higher gasoline and diesel prices on the East Coast.

The US East Coast doesn’t have enough refining capacity to meet in sitsu needs and must bring in fuel from the Gulf Coast or foreign markets. The pipelines from Texas and Louisiana are full and Jones Act ships are fairly small and carry higher per cargo unit operating costs compared to internationally flagged vessels.

Therefore ~25% of the gasoline sold along the East Coast is imported from Europe and the Caribbean.

Seems like changes in the Jones Act on this issue could create more jobs for refiners and longshoremen in the US, reduce the total carbon footprint of a gallon of gasoline and reduce fuel prices by a few cents per gallon.

Thanks to MSB MBA alum Chris H.

This entry was posted on July 1, 2010 at 6:42 am and is filed under Gulf Blowout & Clean-up, Oil & Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.