Koch Brothers Count on Keystone XL and Iran for Cash

The infamous oil baron Koch brothers have told Congress they have no financial interest in the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. However, the Koch's Alberta subsidiary Flint Hills Resources Canada filed for intervenor status in Canadian hearings on Keystone XL. Between their Canadian operations and their big operations in America, the Kochs stand to make a tub of money on the increased prices Keystone XL will bring.

And as much smarter people than I have been saying all year, Keystone XL will raise oil prices:

Currently, Canadian crude can be pumped only as far as the U.S. Midwest, where a crude oil oversupply is keeping regional oil prices low. The Keystone XL would clear that bottleneck, send Canadian oil to the Gulf Coast and open access to world markets, creating a massive business opportunity for tar sands players.

"There's no ability to access world markets, and that's the reason why WTI [Midwest oil pricing] is depressed. Keystone XL will relieve that issue," said Chad Friess, an oil and gas analyst at UBS Securities Canada Inc. in Calgary, Alberta. "Pricing is expected to improve as it comes on stream."

A 2009 market analysis conducted for TransCanada, the Alberta-based company that hopes to build the pipeline, projected that it would create a $3 per-barrel increase, at minimum, for Canadian heavy crude in the Midwest. Canada's petroleum producers would benefit most from the price hike. The report predicts their annual revenues would increase $2 billion to $3.9 billion in 2013. But the entire industry—including the refineries and shipping businesses where Koch Industries has concentrated its efforts—would also profit.

"Keystone XL is about the whole industry," said Danielle Droitsch, senior adviser to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit environmental organization that opposes the pipeline. "They will fetch a higher price of oil from the Gulf Coast market, which also happens to be an international market" [Stacy Feldman, "Koch Company Declared 'Substantial Interest' in Keystone XL Pipeline," Guardian Environment Network: Inside Climate News, 2011.10.05].

Speaking of the international market, the Koch brothers don't want to exclude anyone from the international deals... including Iran. Koch Industries has used its foreign affiliates to sell millions of dollars in oil equipment to Iran, in blatant defiance of the U.S. on such trade with the terror-sponsoring state. Koch Industries even transferred, then fired its own ethics investigator who first reported the shady dealings.

Boy, when the Kochs say they don't like regulation, that includes regulations that fight terrorism.

Now I know I'm reaching just a little here, but tell me, Senator Dan Lederman: are you ready to support a strong tax on TransCanada's pipeline to reduce the money that flows to Iran via the scheming Kochs?