pics here
WSJ story on how Russian oil previously thought destined for China is ending up in US oil refineries stretching from Puget Sound down to LA. Imports have gone from zero to 100k bpd (barrels per day) overnight, leading to downward price pressure in usually high-priced CA.
Experts expect Russia to become a serious source of oil for the US, which seeks to diversify and recover lost flow from declining Mexico.
Soon enough, some of the flow of the multibillion-dollar Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline will be diverted to China in a spur yet to be completed. By 2013, Russia's flow to China is expected to rival that of Saudi Arabia's, or roughly 1m bpd.