Crude oil exports — which are currently banned — are shaping up to be a big issue in Congress, and based on Huckabee’s comments, could be an issue in the general election campaign too. But the surge in U.S. oil production has already done plenty to destabilize global oil markets. Oil has tumbled below $40 a barrel, and the U.S. is importing less oil than it has in decades.
Natural gas exports, by the way, are legal, and Cheniere Energy is set to start shipping liquefied natural gas from a newly constructed Louisiana terminal early in the new year.
