For the first time in 35 years, no oil flowed from Saudi Arabia to the United States last week, according to EIA data, in a show that the United States – at least for now – is not so dependent on Middle Eastern oil. as it used to be.
In October, according to the EIA, the United States imported 8.544 million barrels. In June, that number was more than 36 million, although that number was somewhat an anomaly, as Saudi Arabia threatened to flood the US market with crude oil.
For much of the early 2000s, the United States imported more than 45 million barrels of Saudi crude oil per month.
Source: EIA
On a weekly basis, that number dropped to zero.
Source: EIA
And crude oil imports from the U.S. are not just falling from Saudi Arabia. Until October, the United States imported significantly less crude oil from the Persian Gulf region.
In the early 2000s, the United States imported more than 3 million barrels of crude oil per day from the Persian Gulf region. In October 2020, the United States imported less than half a million barrels a day – and that number is not an anomaly, it is a clear trend. The United States depends less and less on foreign oil, and particularly less and less on oil from the Persian Gulf.
Source: EIA
The data comes at a time when Saudi Arabia announces a voluntary cut of one million barrels a day in its oil production, while the OPEC + group sits at the negotiating table to outline a plan to react to the oil market and the lack of demand.
It also happens on the same day that Saudi Arabia announced an increase in crude oil prices to the United States in February by $ 0Mor.20 per barrel.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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