I keep seeing people with takes like "why is #Trump going after the oil in #Venezuela when the #US is in the middle of an oil boom?"
Here is why:
The kind of oil that the US produces today from fracking is called "Very Light Crude", it sort of has the colour of and viscosity of Mountain Dew Code Red.
US Refineries are NOT setup to refine Very Light Crude, and to switch over would cost hundreds of billions of dollars and take a decade (at a time when even the oil companies can see passenger vehicle fuel use declining).
Instead, US Refineries were built to refine the kinds of oil the US was pumping in the early 20th century: Heavy Crude.
Heavy Crude is the black, gloopy, highly viscous stuff you think of when you think of "Crude Oil".
Venezuela and #Alberta are the only two sources of the Heavy Crude that the US needs to fill up its gas tanks.