How Much Oil Do We Produce, and How Much Is Imported?

The United States imported about 58% of the petroleum, which includes crude oil and refined petroleum products, that we consumed during 2007. About half of these imports came from the Western Hemisphere.



The United States consumed 20.7 million barrels per day (MMbd) of petroleum products during 2007 making us the world’s largest petroleum consumer. The United States was third in crude oil production at 5.1 MMbd. But crude oil alone does not constitute all U.S. petroleum supplies. Significant gains occur, because crude oil expands in the refining process, liquid fuel is captured in the processing of natural gas, and we have other sources of liquid fuel, including biofuels. These additional supplies totaled 3.6 MMbd in 2007. However, we still needed 13.5 MMbd of imported crude oil and petroleum products to meet U.S. demand. The United States also exported 1.4 MMbd of crude oil and petroleum products during 2007, so our net imports (imports minus exports) equaled 12.0 MMbd.

Where Does Our Imported Oil Come From?

About Half of U.S. Petroleum Imports Come from the Western Hemisphere

Some may be surprised to learn that almost 50% of U.S. crude oi l and petroleum products imports came from the Western Hemisphere (North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean including U.S. territories) during 2006. We imported only 16% of our crude oil and petroleum products from the Persian Gulf countries of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. During 2007, our five biggest suppliers of crude oil and petroleum products were:

Canada (18.2%)

Mexico (11.4%)

Saudi Arabia (11.0%)

Venezuela (10.1%)

Nigeria (8.4%)

It is usually impossible to tell whether the petroleum products you use came from domestic or imported sources of oil once they are refined.



Source: Energy Information Administration

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