Biggest Oil Importer | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
The title of “World’s Biggest Oil Importer” is a dubious distinction, but one which the U. S. has long held, according to a recent article in “Rigzone”. However, our perennial claim to the title is being threatened by China. In fact, in April of 2015 when U. S. oil production peaked and our imports fell, China took the title for the first, and only, time until February of this year.
With the oil price collapse, everything changed. Since April of last year, domestic oil production has dropped almost 6% and the oil rig counts is down 80% since October 2014. Falling U. S. production was replaced with more imported oil and once again we were the world’s biggest importer. In March of this year, we imported 8.04 million barrels of oil per day (bopd). While this is a lot, it is only 33,000 bopd more than China.
Chinese demand for oil has been steadily increasing as a result of economic growth. Their demand has increased four-fold since 2005. Concurrently, their domestic oil production has also fallen along with crude prices. A third factor which appears to be driving oil imports is the government’s recent decision to allow smaller, independent refineries known as “teapots” to import oil directly. These trends appear unlikely to reverse themselves and lead many industry observers to believe that China will surpass the U. S. as the world’s biggest oil importer. More importantly, it appears that they are likely to maintain the title.
Of course, the more oil a nation imports, the more susceptible it is to supply disruptions, geopolitics, and resource nationalism. Nevertheless, Amrita Sen, chief oil economist for Energy Aspects Ltd., observes, “I don’t see the U. S. overtaking China on a consistent basis. Especially since China now has substantially higher crude demand from teapot refineries.”
Hopefully we will relinquish the unwanted title permanently.
To read the article in its entirety, please go to http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?hpf=1&a_id=145142&utm_source=DailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2016-06-17&utm_content=read&utm_campaign=feature_4 .
Russell T. Rudy Energy, LLC buys oil, gas and mineral interests nationwide. Please call (800-880-0940), or write (info@rudyenergy.com ) to let us know if you agree, disagree or would just like to comment on this, or any of our posts.
