I hardly can imagine anybody making an energy-intensive investment in Europe
-- Paolo Sarconi, CEO of Eni
So what would make the CEO of one of Europe's largest energy companies admit such a thing? Because American energy is giving us a major leg up in the global energy trade. In July, the U.S. exported more petroleum products than ever before, and this boom in exports is only expected to grow. Marathon Petroleum (MPC -1.26%) wants to expand its exports by another 100,000 barrels per day in export capacity, and Enterprise Products Partners (EPD -0.14%) has a 360,000-barrel-per-day export facility in the works.
With more and more exports coming out of America, it's the European refiners that are seeing their market share dwindle away. Total (TTE 1.05%) has already shuttered three of its refineries in Europe so far this year and others could follow suit. So why are U.S. exports taking away the market from others? Fool contributor Tyler Crowe explains the U.S.' advantage and why investors should take another look at the independent refiners like Marathon as well as Valero (VLO -1.44%) and Phillips 66 (PSX -3.58%).
