BAGHDAD: The increase in US shale and tight crude oil production has resulted in decrease of crude oil imports in the Gulf Coast region, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s “Today in Energy” report. The East Coast region has seen a similar decline in crude oil imports as well, while the Midwest region has seen the opposite.
Historically, Gulf Coast refineries have imported more crude oil than any other region of the country. Beginning in 2010, improvements to the crude distribution system and sustained increases in production in the region (in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins) have significantly reduced light crude imports, EIA stated.
In the Gulf Coast, crude oil is imported from several countries, mainly in the Americas, including Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Canada, as well as Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. Imports from Africa in particular have declined, as Nigeria was a primary country of origin for Gulf Coast crude oil imports in 2010, but has since declined to less than half a million barrels in November 2014.
Similarly, the East Coast region has been able to benefit from domestic shale production. However, the Marcellus and Utica shale basins primarily produce natural gas rather than oil, so the region’s potential to increase crude oil production is limited.
Because the Midwest region is landlocked, imports show a much less diverse range of countries of origin. In 2014, almost all imports of crude oil to the Midwest came from Canada.
