Back in late 2015 the decision was made to lift the 40-year ban on US oil exports. Since then the US has been able to take the oil to the global market and now business is booming. A large oil supply around the world, including in the US tanked crude oil prices to $26 a barrel. This was devastating for the energy business, which is still recovering and bouncing back. In direct response to this, US law makers lifted the 40-year ban on exports, this allowed US crude oil producers to profit significantly from stock that would otherwise be sitting in storage. Following the ban lift the US began heavily exporting crude oil, and exports reached an all-time high in October 2017 with a record 1.7 million barrels oil being exported per day.

US stockpile of crude oil have shrunken over the past 10 weeks and are at their lowest point since February 2015. The price of Crude oil has also spiked, hitting a 3 year high of $66.66 a barrel last week. US is becoming a major player in the global oil market, and it is predicted to surpass many oil producing countries, including OPEC members like Iran, Iraq, and the UAE.  At the moment the US is still importing more oil than it exports, but the gap is shrinking. Now the US exports oil all around the world. Most of it still goes to Canada, but now China, Britain, and the Netherlands have become major destinations for US oil as well.

Many businesses fail to recover when they hit an obstacle. The US oil market was failing due to an oversupply in the market, but they were able to recover by finding new revenue sources. For 40 years, oil stockpiles grew, oil producers continued to pump crude oil from the ground but didn’t have enough customers to sale to. As a result, oil prices tanked, but with the expansion into oil exporting. The US is on track to becoming a major exporter around the world. Businesses will always face obstacles, like the US oil industry, but they can overcome and prosper if they are willing to expand and innovate. Businesses should always look to expand and gain new revenue sources, and like the US oil industry they will thrive.