FXStreet (Mumbai) – In a historic move, the US Congressional leaders have agreed to lift the nation’s 40-year-old ban on oil exports.
The measure allowing oil exports is at the center of a deal that Republican leaders announced late Tuesday on spending and tax legislation. However, the Democrats have not confirmed the agreement. Both houses must pass it and President Obama must sign it.
Oil companies, including Continental Resources and ConocoPhillips, have been lobbying Congress to lift the ban on oil exports for nearly two years. Congress moved to ban oil exports under most circumstances following a 1973 Arab oil embargo that sent domestic gasoline prices skyrocketing.
If the ban is lifted it would begin a new chapter in the oil price war and erase any possibility of the cut in OPEC output.
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)