Surge In US Crude Oil Imports Is Staggering Considering The Glut Of US Oil; US Crude Oil Import Data For December, 2015, Has Been Posted -- March 8, 2016

All country data.

Saudi Arabia data only.

Some observations:

John Kemp has recently noted that crude oil imports into the US have increased significantly over the past few months. Most recently, he noted that US imports are now up to 7 million bopd. This is confirmed by the December, 2015, data.  Total OPEC crude oil imported into the US in November, 2015, was 95 million bbls; in December, 2015, it surged to 101 million bbls.

US imports from Saudi Arabia has stabilized somewhat; the huge increase in oil from OPEC has been from Iraq: 8 million bbls in November, 2015; 14 million bbls in December, 2015.

Outside of OPEC:

• Brazil has recovered from a dismal month in November, 2015
• Canadian imports into the US have surged
• Mexican imports have remained steady 

This is really quite remarkable. Back between 2000 and 2005, the amount of crude oil stored in the US (not including the SPR) was less than 19 days of supply; most recently that number has soared to 33 days, source:


Look at that huge surge from January, 2015, to April, 2015, in just four months, jumping from 23 to 30 days of storage.