U.S. Crude Oil Exports Continue to Rise

March exports reached their highest levels in 15 years.

June 02, 2014

WASHINGTON – The United States exported 246,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil in March 2014 (the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau), the highest level of exports in 15 years, according to a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Exports have increased sharply since the start of 2013 and have exceeded 200,000 bbl/d in four of the last five months. The increase in crude exports is largely the result of rising U.S. crude production, which was 8.0 million bbl/d in February.

Almost all of the crude oil exported from the United States has been delivered to Canada, and most of the recent increase in crude oil exports has been from the U.S. Gulf Coast. Gulf Coast crude exports averaged 134,000 bbl/d in the first quarter of 2014, a 283% increase over 2013's record high of 35,000 bbl/d. In the first quarter 2014, nearly 75% of Gulf Coast exports have left the region from the Houston-Galveston district, in Texas. The remaining barrels were loaded in Port Arthur, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana.

In the last several years, exports to countries other than Canada have been rare. Such shipments have been limited to re-exports of foreign-origin crude oil, initially intended for processing by U.S. refineries. Foreign-origin crude has been re-exported to China, Costa Rica, France, South Korea, and Mexico.

More recently, trade press has reported that a cargo of Canadian crude oil loaded in the Gulf Coast for delivery to a refinery in Spain. With limited infrastructure available to transport growing Canadian crude production to the country's coasts where it could be delivered into the global market, producers are looking for other ways to reach such markets.

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