Venezuela is still one of our top oil suppliers, but its exports to the U.S. are down 37% since 2005.
The past decade has seen a major shift in the U.S. crude oil market. As a result of the surge in domestic production that was largely enabled by hydraulic fracturing — a practice Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders vows to ban and his rival Hillary Clinton promises to severely restrict — U.S. crude imports fell from 10.1 million barrels per day in 2005 to 7.4 million bpd in 2015. Over that span, the share of U.S. oil consumption satisfied by imports fell from 48.7% to 37.9%.
This surge in U.S. production and subsequent decline in imports resulted in more oil available for trade on the global markets, and that ultimately put downward pressure on the price of crude. OPEC exacerbated that pressure with its decision in late 2014 to defend market share, and these two pressures combined to drive oil prices down below $30 per barrel.
As a net oil importer, the decline in oil prices has hurt the U.S. oil industry, but it has also reduced the U.S. trade deficit. Consumers have benefited from lower energy prices. But the drop in prices has especially hurt the economies of countries that derive substantial revenues from oil exports.
Over the past 20 years, Canada has become by far our biggest foreign supplier of oil. In fact, the U.S. presently consumes almost 70% of Canada’s oil output. According to the Energy Information Administration, in 2015 the U.S. imported 3.2 million bpd from Canada, which accounted for 43.1% of U.S. crude oil imports. This volume represented a near-doubling in volume from 10 years earlier, but with oil prices still about $60 a barrel lower than they were two years ago, Canada is receiving about $70 billion a year less for oil from the U.S. than they were.
Twenty years ago Saudi Arabia was the top supplier of oil to the U.S. market, but they lost that top spot to Canada just over a decade ago. Still, they are the second-largest source of U.S. crude oil imports, supplying 1.1 million bpd in 2015. This represented 14.3% of U.S. crude imports, but a volume drop of 27.3% from 2005.
Because of growing global demand, Saudi Arabia (like Canada) has substantially ramped up its oil production since 2005. Saudi Arabia’s decline in exports to the U.S. wasn’t because it doesn’t have sufficient oil to export. However, declining production is increasingly an issue for Venezuela and Mexico, our No. 3 and No. 4 suppliers of crude.
Both Colombia and Brazil saw oil exports to the U.S. more than double over the past decade, but for most of the Top 10 the U.S. is importing substantially less oil than we were a decade ago.
No. 1: Canada – 3.2 million bpd
The Obama Administration may have said no to the Keystone XL Pipeline, but Americans are certainly not saying no to Canada’s oil. In 2015 the U.S. imported 3.2 million barrels per day from our northern neighbor — triple the amount the U.S. imported from Canada 20 years ago.
No. 2: Saudi Arabia – 1.1 million bpd
Saudi Arabia has slipped into the No. 2 spot for U.S. oil imports, but they have continued to grow their oil exports in other markets.
No. 3: Venezuela – 780,000 bpd
The socialist government in Venezuela has taken a toll on the oil industry there, as production continues to decline despite the world’s largest oil reserves. Since 2005 exports to the U.S. have declined 37%.
No. 4: Mexico – 690,000 bpd
Pemex CEO José Antonio González Anaya could be signaling the 56% drop in Mexican crude oil exports to the U.S. over the past decade.
No. 5: Colombia – 370,000 bpd
Colombia may have only supplied 5% of U.S. oil imports in 2015, but the U.S. is importing 137% more from the country than it was a decade ago.
No. 6: Iraq – 230,000 bpd
Iraq’s oil industry continues to recover following years of war, but less of that oil is coming to the U.S. Crude oil imports from Iraq are down 57% over the past decade.
No. 7: Ecuador – 225,000 bpd
Oil production in Ecuador has long been controversial due to a history of environmental contamination. Nevertheless, Ecuador remains one of South America’s major oil producers, and the 7th most important source of U.S. imports.
No. 8: Kuwait – 210,000 bpd
Kuwaiti Oil and Finance Minister Anas al-Saleh discusses the country’s energy strategy at a speech in Kuwait City. Kuwait’s oil exports to the U.S. are down 9% since 2005.
No. 9: Brazil – 190,000 bpd
Brazil is only one of three countries in the Top 10 to have boosted exports to the U.S. over the past decade. Crude oil imports from Brazil have risen by 101% since 2005.
No. 10: Angola – 190,000 bpd
A decade ago Nigeria was our most important source of oil from Africa, but Angola remains the only African country in the Top 10 for U.S. oil imports. Here Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, Angola’s petroleum minister, listens to journalists ahead of the 168th Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting in Vienna, Austria, on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015.
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