Why doesn't the US use their own gasoline?

Answer 1

We do, most gasoline produced in the US refineries is used in the US. We do not import gasoline, but the crude oil used to make gasoline. It is cheaper to refine "sweet" crude oil from the Middle East, than the "sour" crude oil we produce. As the price of crude oil increases we become more reliant on our own oil, as it drops we import more oil. Keep in mind the US is the third largest producer of crude oil in the world, we have been first in the past, most of which is used in the US. Transportation costs can be factored into the equation as well, a pipeline from Alaska to refineries on the west coast could reduce transport costs, thus reducing the cost of refining it into gasoline or other fuels, indirectly. Otherwise it is as costly to ship it by sea from Alaska as it is from the Mid-East, so the difference in pumping and refining costs is what drives the import-export trade most. Oil pumped from the Gulf of Mexico is usually refined in the Gulf states, and oil drilling in other states is highly regulated, (aside from the differences in "sweet" and "sour" crude) driving up costs.