Want Insight on the Oil Industry? Listen to This Guy: Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (PAA)

3. Domestic oil markets
There has been plenty of coverage about the surge of oil shipped via rail over the past few months. The shift to rail is the result of oil producers trying to get the best price for crude by sending it to underserved, non-traditional markets. We’ve seen Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CLR) do this in the Bakken with 45% of its oil, and watched Enbridge Inc (USA) (NYSE:ENB) announce it is building a rail system across Pennsylvania. But is rail just the tip of the iceberg? An analyst asked specifically about the impact Texas crude production will have on the price of Louisiana Light Sweet, and Armstrong gives his view here:

I think for example, what we see in the next 12 months may differ from what we see 12 months beyond that point, or 24 months into the future. And so I think logistics is going to be a critical part of that. Rail I think is going to be the pressure relief valve in the short term. Longer term there [are] issues with respect to Jones Act relief and potentially either exporting crude or exporting slightly refined crude products…

Exporting crude may be crucial to keeping oil prices high enough to maintain production, which is quite expensive. You can read more about the potential to export U.S. crude here.

Foolish takeaway
Few have the means to actually listen to tens of conference calls every quarter, but it is easy to find call transcripts online, giving investors the lovely option of skimming. Do read the Q&A, though, and come away with a better understanding of the issues and trends that affect our investments.

The article Want Insight on the Oil Industry? Listen to This Guy originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Aimee Duffy.

Fool contributor Aimee Duffy owns shares of Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. Click here to see her holdings and a short bio. If you have the energy, check out what she’s keeping an eye on by following her on Twitter, where she goes by @TMFDuffy. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners L.P.

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