Top Oil Importers to U.S. by Country: Where We Get It

As world oil prices gyrate in rhythm with the unrest sweeping Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) countries, worries abound that the U.S. will feel the pinch of production losses in Libya.

However, even though Libya is the 15th largest exporter of oil and provides 2% of the world’s daily output, according to The Associated Press, those in the U.S. worried about a direct effect on the availability of oil from Libya can rest easy. Well, perhaps not easy, since the peripheral effects of Libya’s output reduction will of course be felt on the world market and U.S. prices are already on the rise.

The U.S. imports oil from a number of countries worldwide, as well as providing some of its own supply. But among the 15 largest suppliers to the U.S., Libya doesn’t even rate a mention. Most of Libya’s oil goes to other nations; 85% goes to Italy, Germany, France and Spain. While, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, we do import some 71,000 barrels per day on average (figures from January through November 2010), most of our oil comes from other sources.

More than half of the oil that fuels the U.S.—51%—comes from the Western Hemisphere, and only 17% comes from the Persian Gulf: Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Among our neighbors in the West, the top suppliers break down as follows:

• Canada (23.3%)
• Venezuela (10.7%)
• Saudi Arabia (10.4%)
• Mexico (9.2%)
• Nigeria (8.3%)

Those top 15 countries mentioned above, and how much they supplied to the U.S. in December of 2010 (in thousands of barrels per day), come out like this:

Country	Crude Oil Imports	Total Petroleum Imports
Canada	2,064	2,713
Mexico	1,223	1,365
Saudi Arabia	1,076	1,087
Nigeria	1,024	1,070
Venezuela	825	917
Iraq	336	336
Angola	307	319
Brazil	271	295
Algeria	262	--
Colombia	220	231
Ecuador	192	192
Russia	158	514
Kuwait	125	125
United Kingdom	124	236
Argentina	85	--
Virgin Islands	--	191

 

Note that neither Algeria nor Argentina supply enough total products to make the top 15 in that category, while the Virgin Islands do not supply enough crude to make the top 15 crude suppliers.