"Feds: Oil Exports Could Lower Gas Prices"

"Lifting the ban on exporting crude oil would not raise domestic gasoline prices and could even reduce them, a new report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted on Tuesday.

The conclusion of the report strongly takes the side of oil producing companies, who have ramped up their efforts to export crude and tried to fight back accusations that consumers would suffer through higher gas prices.

While listing a number of caveats to its analysis and warning that the economic factors at hand are extremely complicated, the EIA said oil drillers would benefit from higher crude prices if the United States’ market were opened to the world, while margins for petroleum refiners would be squeezed."

Timothy Cama reports for The Hill September 1, 2015.