U.S. Importing more oil in April

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dan_s
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Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:22 am

U.S. Importing more oil in April

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U.S. crude oil imports from OPEC are down, but imports from Canada remain high
Crude oil imports into the United States reached a peak in 2005, but they dropped 42% between 2005 and 2020 to an average of 5.9 million barrels per day (b/d), the lowest level since 1991. During this period, U.S. crude oil imports from OPEC members decreased rapidly, but imports from non-OPEC members remained relatively high. In particular, crude oil imports from Canada more than doubled to an average of 3.6 million b/d. As a result, Canada’s share of total U.S. crude oil imports increased, reaching a record-high share of 61% in 2020. Weekly preliminary crude oil imports by country of origin (four-week rolling average) show that U.S. crude oil imports from Canada in 2021 (as of April 23) have been down only slightly from the same period in 2020. At the same time, imports from selected members of OPEC are down by 48%. (EIA does not collect weekly data on every member of OPEC.) Voluntary OPEC production cuts are contributing to lower U.S. crude oil imports from OPEC members. The comparatively stable U.S. crude oil imports from Canada, however, are mostly the result of longer-term trends in Canada’s crude oil production and refining economics.

Weekly imports (on a four-week rolling average basis) in 2020 hit a low the week of September 18 at 5.1 million b/d but have generally trended upward since then. In mid-February, however, extreme weather caused port closures and refinery shutdowns in the Midwest (PADD 2) and Gulf Coast (PADD 3), contributing to a short-lived drop in imports. Year-to-date average weekly U.S. crude oil imports in 2021 (as of April 23) are 9% below the same period in 2020. Imports from Saudi Arabia (which accounted for 61% of U.S. crude oil imports from OPEC in 2020) through April 23, are 37% lower in 2021 than during the same period in 2020, while imports from Canada are down less than 1% during the same period.

Read more from EIA: https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/weekly/
Dan Steffens
Energy Prospectus Group
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