Growing U.S. oil export debate has now spread to geopolitics

Lifting the longstanding ban on U.S. crude oil exports would boost the country'seconomy and enhance its global leadership, a former senior Obama administration official will tell senators on Thursday, introducing a strategic dimension to the growing debate over selling American oil abroad.

In testimony submitted ahead of a Senate energy committee hearing on U.S. crude export policy, the Pentagon's former undersecretary of defense for policy, Michele Flournoy, argues "policymakers in the United States should embrace these various benefits to our allies and ourselves and liberalize our crude export rules.

"Market conditions merit such a step and security dividends will not be fully realized without it,” said Flournoy, co-founder of the Center for a New American Security.

A host of economic and geopolitical factors, from plummeting oil prices, near-capacity storage facilities and sanctions against Iran and Russia, are forcing both sides of the debate to address strategic questions.

 Read the full article at Reuters.