Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD)’s Refining Capacity Saturation Dilemma

Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) has been riding high on the U.S. energy boom. It’s not only Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), but several energy, oil and gas companies that have witnessed tremendous growth over the past few years and are predicting the good times to continue. The oil boom has reached such a stage that companies in U.S. are finding it tough to refine the oil that they are producing. Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), discussed the energy boom that U.S. is going through and regulations concerning energy industry on Fox Business on Thursday.

“I will describe this as a game changer for this country; the U.S. oil production was at 5 million barrels a day just a few years ago. Now we are at 8.5 million barrels a day and it’s all because of the oil shell revolution with three big discoveries and primarily the Permian basin, 75 billion-barrel field, the Eagle field, a 25 billion-barrel field and then the Bakken, 25 billion-barrel field,” Sheffield said.

Sheffield revealed that Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), along with another company, has made a filing with the U.S. Commerce Department that allows it to export the condensate that comes out of the Eagle field as it goes through distillation. He also revealed that Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) has already exported two cargos, one of them to South Korea and another to Europe, he highlighted that due to the Ukrainian crisis, Europe needs this product.

Sheffield feels that once the refining capacity in U.S. matches up to the pace of its oil production, companies would be able to export even oil, apart from the condensate that is already exported. He believes that the refining capacity saturation in U.S. would cease to exist in the nest three year as the general public, the administration and the U.S. Congress gets educated about the potential that U.S. posess in terms of exporting oil and natural gas. Sheffield predicts that if U.S. starts exporting natural gas, it will put pressure on OPEC and bring the cost of natural gas down.

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