You missed it.
Oil is already being tracked, from well to pump.
You don't need to test the tanker, or anything, very often.
Just the fact that spot checks can be done, cheaply, is all that's necessary to get the point across.
These arent kilos of heroin that have to be stopped. These are tens of millions of barrels of crude, molecules of which tag every batch they are mixed with.
There's already methods in use today for tracking fuels, even those that are identical.
For example, you can buy diesel without tax for 95-cents/gallon, when it sells with tax for $1.55/gallon. That fuel is tagged with a cheap chemical. You are subject to test, which is also cheap, and done on a spot basis. Any tank you use this fuel in will be tagged, and can be easily determined.
Again: it isn't the technique, or the costs, that are an issue.
It is simply the will to make it available. |
