Cheaper U.S. crude prices make American-produced oil an easier sell in places like Asia, even with the cost of shipping, typically a few dollars a barrel. The price gap also helps keep the U.S. energy industry firing on all pistons during the typically quiet fall season when summer-driving demand declines and refineries shut units for repairs. “The [$10] spread is screaming for more U.S. oil exports,” said Phil Flynn at Price Futures in Chicago. “Exports will start heading back to records if not breaking them.” Oil exports rocketed to a record three million barrels a day in June, largely attributed to WTI prices that were $10 cheaper than Brent then. That pattern could repeat itself now, according to Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities U.S.A. Over the past six weeks, when the spread wasn’t much larger than the shipping costs, exports averaged less than 1.9 […]