WASHINGTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - The head of energy companyRoyal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday that U.S.policymakers should lift the crude oil export ban becauseallowing the shipments would make global energy system morestable.
"Policy makers here in the U.S. should embrace a trulyliberalized diverse and global energy market," Shell CEO Ben vanBeurden told a conference on energy at Columbia University. U.S.oil and natural gas exports "would reinforce the long termfuture of North American energy production," significantlyimprove the U.S. balance of trade, and "help to make the globalenergy system much more stable," he said.
The United States has banned oil exports since the 1970sArab oil embargo, but pressure on the Obama administration andon Congress to overturn the ban has risen amid the domesticshale energy boom of the last several years. Washington hasapproved several applications to export natural gas with thefirst shipments expected next year. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)
