OTTAWA: Canada provided 4 out of 10 barrels of crude oil imported into the U.S. in 2015, marking its highest share and amount of imports on record, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday.
Last year, U.S. gross crude oil imports from all sources averaged 7.4 million barrels per day, according to the EIA. The total amount of U.S. crude oil imports last year were down 27 percent from a 2005 peak of 10.1 million barrels per day.
“As gross crude oil imports decline, a growing share of remaining imports are being sourced from four top suppliers: Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Mexico,” the EIA said in a statement. “Canada, America’s largest crude oil supplier since 2004, sent a record-high 3.2 million b/d of gross crude oil exports to the United States in 2015, up 10% from the year before, accounting for a record 43% of total U.S. crude oil imports.”
Many U.S. refineries have the equipment to process the heavy, sour crude Canada generally produces and Canada has few alternative outlets. The EIA credits the U.S.’s rare ability to process Canadian crude as the reason our northern neighbour has provided such a large share of U.S. oil imports and expects it to continue to provide a large portion of imports in the future.
