2021 U.S. Petroleum Product and Crude Oil Imports: Visualization
Energy independence is a top priority for many countries as Russia invades Ukraine Sanctions and bans on Russian coal and crude oil imports have been prompted.
Despite being the world’s largest oil producer, the U.S. will import more than 3 billion barrels Crude oil and petroleum products, equivalent to 43% of the country’s consumption.
This visualization uses data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) compares U.S. crude and refined product imports with domestic crude oil production and breaks down which countries the U.S. imports oil from in 2021.
U.S. crude oil imports, by country
The United States imports more than 8 million barrels of oil products from other countries a day, making it the world’s second-largest crude oil importer after China.
The U.S.’s northern neighbor, Canada, is the largest source of oil imports, with 1.58 billion barrels in 2021.These imports account for more than 51% of U.S. oil imports, counting only crude In imports, Canada’s share rose to 62%.
| rank | nation | U.S. oil imports (2021, in barrels) | share |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 1.584 billion | 51.3% |
| #2 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | 259 million | 8.4% |
| #3 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 254 million | 7.9% |
| #4 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 156 million | 5.1% |
| #5 | 🇨🇴 Colombia | 74 million | 2.4% |
| #6 | 🇪🇨Ecuador | 61 million | 2.0% |
| #7 | 🇮🇶 Iraq | 57 million | 1.9% |
| #8 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 52 million | 1.7% |
| #9 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 48 million | 1.6% |
| #10 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 46 million | 1.5% |
| #11 | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | 45 million | 1.5% |
| Other countries | 459 million | 14.7% | |
| all | 3.091 billion | 100.0% |
The second largest contributor to U.S. oil imports is another neighboring country, Mexico, which imported 259 million barrels of oil in 2021, accounting for more than 8 percent of U.S. oil imports.
Russia is the third-largest exporter of crude oil and petroleum products to the U.S. in 2021, with its 254 million barrels of crude accounting for nearly 8 percent of total U.S. imports.
U.S. crude oil and oil imports from OPEC and OPEC+
Only about 11% of U.S. crude oil and petroleum product imports come from OPEC countries, with another 16.3% from OPEC+ members.
While imports from OPEC and OPEC+ members account for more than a quarter of total U.S. oil imports, that share is quite small considering that OPEC members currently control nearly 80 percent of oil imports. world oil reserves.
Which countries are part of OPEC and OPEC+?
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a group of 13 oil-producing countries founded in 1960 to provide stable prices and supply distribution for crude oil and petroleum products.
In 2016, in order to better control the global oil supply and market in response to the then influx of US shale oil supply, OPEC+ formed with more oil exporting countries.
OPEC member states:
- 🇮🇷 Iran*
- 🇮🇶 Iraq*
- 🇰🇼 Kuwait*
- 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia*
- 🇻🇪 Venezuela*
- 🇩🇿 Algeria
- 🇦🇴 Angola
- 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea
- 🇬🇦 Gabon
- 🇱🇾 Libya
- 🇳🇬 Nigeria
- 🇨🇩 Republic of Congo
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
* Founding member
OPEC+ members:
- 🇷🇺 Russia
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan
- 🇲🇾 Malaysia
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
- 🇧🇭 Bahrain
- 🇧🇳 Brunei
- 🇴🇲 Oman
- 🇸🇩 Sudan
- 🇸🇸 South Sudan
While OPEC and OPEC+ members supply a significant portion of U.S. crude and oil imports, the U.S. has avoided over-reliance on OPEC by building strong relationships with neighbors Canada and Mexico.
Crude oil imports utilize U.S. refineries
While the U.S. has been a net exporter of crude oil and petroleum products for the past two years, exporting 3.15 billion barrels and importing 3.09 billion barrels in 2021, crude trade alone tells a different story.
From the perspective of crude oil trade alone, the United States is an important net importer, with crude oil imports of 2.23 billion barrels and crude oil exports of only 1.08 billion barrels. But the US is the largest crude oil producer in the world, why is that?
As mentioned earlier, neighboring Canada has a larger share of U.S. crude oil imports than crude oil and petroleum product imports. Likewise, if petroleum products are excluded, Mexico’s crude oil imports account for 10% of U.S. crude oil imports.
With lower transportation costs and risks, maximizing imports from neighboring countries makes sense for all parties, and it’s no surprise that Canada and Mexico also provide substantial amounts of crude. With so many refineries on the border, Canada and Mexico ended up being more cost-effective to use U.S. refining rather than domestically.
In turn, Mexico is largest importer U.S.-produced gasoline and diesel fuels, and Canada is the third-largest importer of U.S.-produced refined petroleum products.
Substitute for Russian crude oil imports
While Russia accounts for only 8% of U.S. petroleum product imports, 254 million barrels of them need to be replaced because the two countries halted trade shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
To curb rising oil and gasoline prices, in March President Joe Biden announced the release of as much as 180 million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.Other IEA countries are also release emergency oil reserves try to contain Price increased The surge and volatility in the oil market.
While the U.S. and the rest of the world are still grappling with short-term solutions to this oil supply gap, long-term solutions are complex and have various moving parts.From increasing domestic oil production to replacing oil demand with other oil clean energy Solutions, oil trade and imports will remain important components of the U.S. energy supply.
