| 1 | The Obama administration has approved the first exports of US crude to Mexico as the strains of a low oil price strengthen industry calls for a blanket export ban to be lifted. |
| 2 | Crude exports are prohibited under a law that dates back to the energy crises of the 1970s, but the US said on Friday it had approved some sales to Mexico that are allowed by an exemption in the rules. |
| 3 | It marks the Obama administration's second incremental move in less than a year to loosen export restrictions as the shale energy revolution continues to flood the US market with a glut of domestic crude. |
| 4 | The oil and gas industry and its Republican allies have called for the ban to be repealed by Congress or White House action, but Democrats and environmentalists have opposed such a move. |
| 5 | A senior official at the US Department of Commerce, which administers the ban, said on Friday that it had approved licence applications for US oil to be exchanged more or less barrel-for-barrel with Mexican crude. |
| 6 | US refineries are better suited to processing heavy Mexican crude than the lighter shale oil being liberated from US rocks by the process of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing. |
| 7 | Calling for a full repeal of the export ban, Louis Finkel of the American Petroleum Institute, the biggest oil lobby group, said: "Trade with Mexico is a long-overdue step that will benefit our economy and North American energy security, but we shouldn't stop there." |
| 8 | The oil industry says exports would create more US jobs just as producers retrench with the crude price under $50 a barrel. |
| 9 | But pro-ban environmentalists say more shale production would lead to greater air and water pollution. |
| 10 | Many Democrats are wary of lifting the ban via an act of Congress because they fear they will get the blame if fuel prices later rise, even though a lot of studies suggest US exports would lower the global crude price. |
| 11 | The commerce department's bureau of industry and security at the same time had denied "a number of applications" for the exchange of crude with several countries, the official said. |
| 12 | A few exemptions are written into the 1975 export ban, including an allowance for crude oil exchanges that are subject to administration approval. |
| 13 | The senior official said the commerce department was not reacting to the low price of crude, but had seen an increase in applications for overseas sales in recent months. |
| 14 | "Fundamentally we are applying existing regulations. It's really for the private parties to make market judgments," he said. |
| 15 | Late last year the Obama administration tweaked the rules to allow more overseas sales of lightly processed oil called condensate. |