Random Look At US Crude Oil Imports Over Recent Six Months -- January 30, 2015

The data is a full two months old so it's not particularly helpful. We really won't know what the slump in oil price was all about and what the results were until late this summer, maybe not until the end of the year when we have the August "high-driving" data in.

Having said that, it's interesting to look at recent history.

October 1, 2014, was the beginning of the slump in oil prices.

With that date in mind, look at the numbers. These are the millions of bbls of oil imported into the US broken down by country.

Despite the increasing amount of oil produced INSIDE the United States, the amount of oil imported
 into the US -- between June, 2014, and November, 2014, actually increased, from 264 million bbls to 269 million bbls/month. Interesting, huh?

Saudi Arabia worried about losing its fair share? For the US, no change: 30 million bbls/month.

Venezuela on the ropes? For the US, Venezuela actually shipped MORE oil into the US, from 22 million bbls/month to 24 million bbls/month.

So, who were the losers?

• Iraq went from 16 million to 13 million bbls.
• Kuwait went from 11 million to less than 4 million bbls.
• Although they don't account for much American imports, Algeria and Nigeria took major hits.

Again, I don't think this snapshot tells us much. It's too brief a period; the data is two months old; and, the price slump had just begun.

I don't think we will have a better feeling for all this until late 2015. At the end of October we will have the results of the high-driving month of August. Should be interesting.

Source of screenshot above: EIA, a dynamic link.