Neil Freiman

The US was sending over 8.2 million barrels of refined fuels abroad last week, like jet fuel, gas, and diesel, a jump of more than 20% over last year.

Refined fuels have been the main driver, but that unrefined crude is also in high demand.

The US recently became a net exporter of crude oil for the first time since World War II.

which is remarkable given that just over 10 years ago, it was one of the world's biggest importers of crude.

It's been a windfall for U.S.

energy companies, which according to the Financial Times, are set to earn an additional $60 billion of cash flow this year should oil prices stay elevated.

But all this exporting to other countries is leaving regular American people wondering, hey, what about us?

We're paying a ton more for gas and our own companies are shipping all this gas abroad.

As these companies rake it in, pressure is growing on the Trump administration to relieve the pain at the pump for American consumers.

And at the same time, the price of oil is set globally.

So even if we kept oil here, it might cause prices to rise elsewhere.

And that means gas prices will still go higher because when we talk about oil prices, it's the Brent crude benchmark globally.

Everyone kind of pays the same thing.

So it's not necessarily a fact or truism that if we kept more gas here and we banned exports, then we would see gas prices fall.

And I mentioned Stock of the Week.

We should probably talk about some companies.

Well, Shell reported earnings yesterday.

It's not a U.S.

company, but it is based in London.

It is a Western oil company.