WOME N I N TH E INDU S TRY Issues on the pricing front are supply
and commodities speculation, and both are starting to be addressed, Bloomer said. New sources of supply and potential
sources of supply promise to benefit the fuel oil business, she said. These include the rich Bakken shale formation in North Dakota, now a booming oil patch. The Associated Press reported this fall that there is speculation the boom could sweep down to South Dakota, where it is thought that a similar shale formation, containing millions of barrels of crude, might exist. Another potential boon to supply
would be construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, Bloomer said. The proposed pipeline would transport oil from oil sands in Alberta in Canada to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. It requires approval by the U.S. State Department because it crosses the U.S. border. The National Petrochemical &
Refiners Association in October sub- mitted written comments to the State Department and provided oral testi- mony at a department hearing, urging approval of construction. Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the U.S., the association said, providing nearly two million barrels per day. The Keystone pipeline would allow the U.S. to increase imports from Canada by more than 500,000 barrels per day, the association said. But the Obama administration in
November delayed a decision on the pipe- line while it studies an alternate route through Nebraska. The administration cited environmental concerns. The delay effectively pushes any action past the 2012 presidential election and into 2013, reported The New York Times. Bloomer said alternate routes for the
pipeline have already been explored. The project is critical to the economy, she said. Besides "obvious energy benefits to consumers," she said, "the project would produce over 20,000 jobs—something we cannot afford to delay." Challenges on the pricing front stem in part from competition from other fuels,
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but Bloomer said that fuel oil's competi- tiveness is becoming keener through the continuing introduction and gradually widening use of biofuel and ultra-low sul- fur fuel. Such products, she said, enable consumers to use a heating oil that is "clean and green."
Speculation in the commodities mar-
kets is another well-known factor causing turbulence in pricing, Bloomer noted. Two new commodi ty t rading
rules approved in October by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have been greeted with "guarded
