Several US companies have sought permission from the Obama administration to export crude oil to European, Asian, African and Latin American countries, but have been rejected because they have failed to qualify for strict exemptions to long-standing crude export restrictions, a key administration official said Thursday. These companies, many of whom sought exchanges with countries similar to a 75,000 b/d exchange announced by Mexico’s Pemex this week, were not allowed to export US crude to several other countries because they could not prove the oil could not be marketed in the US, the US Commerce Department’s Matthew Borman said during an Argus conference in Houston. US law “favors” crude exchanges, or swaps, with Canada and Mexico, but only allows swaps to other countries if certain conditions are met, said Borman, the deputy assistant secretary of commerce for export administration with Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. One of these […]