据路透社5月15日报道，美国正快速成为整个西半球主要的炼油中心，国内原油丰富和炼油高效令美国炼油企业抢占整个地区的市场份额。
目前，美国炼油企业几乎满足了西半球其余国家每日燃油需求的四分之一，每天向世界各地出口汽油、柴油和其他燃油400万桶以上，而十年前这两项数据分别是不到十分之一和100万桶。
根据美国海关资料，美国燃油出口的三分之二，近280万桶/日，都是供给西半球的市场。
阿根廷、巴西、加拿大、智利、哥伦比亚、哥斯达黎加、多米尼加、厄瓜多尔、危地马拉、洪都拉斯、墨西哥、巴拿马、秘鲁、委内瑞拉，上述国家去年从美国进口的燃油数量都创造或接近了最高纪录。其他国家，远至法国、尼日利亚、中国、韩国、澳大利亚、黎巴嫩，自美国的进口量也出现了增长。
西半球已经是美国炼油业最大和增长最快的市场，比2005年增长了200万桶/日。
在国内对汽油等燃油需求停滞的情况下，美国炼油业将精力转向了出口。早在2005年，美国国内对石油产品的需求就达到了顶峰，最近由于油价下跌，又出现增长复苏的迹象。
与此同时，对于西半球其他国家中大多数的小型、老旧、低效率的炼油企业来说，满足不断增长的需求非常艰难，美国炼油企业因此有了可乘之机，迫不及待地填补了供需的空白。
美国炼油企业也受益于猛增的页岩油产量和原油出口禁令，它们能以低折扣价格买入国内的原油，加工后再出口。
以上的结果是，美国的油品出口出现了1945年以来未曾有过的激增。二战时期，美国曾向英国等盟友大量出口燃油。现在美国向巴西的出口量比2009年翻了两番， 达到每日21.5万桶，向加拿大的出口量增长了2倍多，达到每日47.8万桶，向墨西哥的出口量增长了超过70%，达到每日55.5万桶。
许多分析师仍然觉得美国炼油业只服务于国内消费者，而实际上它们早就是日益一体化的西半球市场或者说全球市场的一分子了。
沈佳蕾摘自路透社
原文如下：
U.S. refiners dominate western hemisphere markets: Kemp
May 15 (Reuters) - The United States is fast becoming the major refining hub for the entire western hemisphere as plentiful crude at home and superior efficiency enable U.S. refiners to grab market share across the region.
U.S. refiners now supply almost a quarter of the rest of the hemisphere's daily fuel demand, up from less than 10 percent a decade ago.
U.S. refiners are exporting more than 4 million barrels of gasoline, diesel and other fuels every day around the world, up from 1 million barrels per day in 2005.
Two-thirds of the exports, almost 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd), go to markets in the western hemisphere, according to U.S. Customs.
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela all received record or near-record shipments last year.
Other countries as far away as France, Nigeria, China, South Korea, Australia and Lebanon have also seen increased imports from the United States.
But the western hemisphere has been the biggest and fastest growing market for U.S. refineries, accounting for an extra 2 million barrels per day since 2005.
U.S. refiners have turned to exporting as demand for gasoline and other refined fuels has stagnated at home. Domestic consumption of petroleum products peaked in 2005, though recently there have been signs of renewed growth as oil prices have fallen.
At the same time, the mostly small, old and inefficient refineries across the rest of the hemisphere have struggled to meet growing demand, creating a gap into which U.S. refiners have stepped hungrily.
U.S. refineries have also benefited from soaring shale production and the ban on crude exports which enables them to buy crude at home at a steeply discounted price to process it for export.
The result has been an extraordinary surge in exporting which has no parallel since 1945, when the United States was exporting fuel to Britain and other wartime allies.
Exports to Brazil have quadrupled to 215,000 bpd since 2009. Exports to Canada are up by more than double to 478,000 bpd. Exports to Mexico are up by over 70 percent to 555,000 bpd.
Many analyses still treat the U.S. refiners as if they were catering almost exclusively to domestic consumers when they are in fact part of an increasingly integrated hemispheric and indeed global market.
