U.S. Becomes Net Exporter Of Fuel For First Time In Nearly 20 Years

This piece has been updated.

While some Americans cut back on driving as gas prices soar, the U.S. has become a net exporter of fuel for the first time in nearly 20 years.

According to data from the Energy Department, starting last November -- with the exception of the month of January -- the U.S. began exporting more petroleum products than it imported.

In February, the U.S. exported 54,000 more barrels of petroleum products each day than it purchased abroad, with diesel and finished petrol leading the increase. According to the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, U.S. refined product exports rose in the first quarter of 2011 to 2.49 million barrels per day, a 24.4 percent year-over-year increase, the Financial Times reports.

In the first quarter of 2011, imports dropped to 2.26 million barrels a day, a 14.4 percent year-over-year decline, according to the FT.

Analysts attribute the increase in exports to a combination of overlapping factors: unrest in the Middle East leading to higher oil prices, a weak U.S. dollar and increased spending power abroad, particularly in Latin America.

"The U.S. is exporting quite a bit now to Latin American because the market's quite lucrative there and the reality is that they can get a better price by exporting it," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist of IHS. "It's a free market, and if refiners can get higher prices in other parts of the world, they'll sell it. It's just the reality. It's the free market at work."

The chart below tracks the rise and fall of monthly U.S. net imports of total petroleum products since 1993.

The data paints a grim picture of the role of the weakening U.S. dollar in the world.

"It's a sign that the dollar has gotten weak enough that it's actually starting to stimulate demand for the goods we produce here," said Scott Anderson, Senior Economist at Wells Fargo. "We're more of a price taker right now in the gasoline market than a price setter and that means we're at the whims of global growth and global demand."

Last week, President Obama criticized oil companies for profiting from rising pump prices and pushed congress to end $4 billion in annual tax breaks for the oil and gas industry.

The president's plan will not affect gas prices, but he said that the money saved ending the subsides would be invested in developing new energy resources and research.

This piece originally misstated the net quantity of barrels of petroleum product exported each year.

Comments

[BCinVA]

05:50 PM on 05/05/2011

Suggested new Oil Company Jargon:
Oil slick = Oil company lobbyist
Grease job = Result of above on American consumers
Oil platform = Plank in Rebup agenda
Drilling rig = What oil slicks pay for (see 1 above)
Drill Bit = Palin Schtick

OK you creative types, what else do you have?

[shiny73]

05:18 PM on 05/05/2011

Why would we export any if we are still importing some? This makes no sense to me.

[TimRivers]

01:52 PM on 05/05/2011

Well here are more of those pesky facts that teabaggers hate, to deflate yet another of their signature arguments - if we just drilled more here, we wouldn't have to buy as much foreign oil. Read that as "if we drilled more here, we could make even higher profits selling that refined product elsewhere, and screw the American public on higher gas prices."

Until we stop rampant speculation in the commodities futures markets on crude oil, the prices will not come down. Until the government and private industry gets working on a viable alternative energy source that does not come from big oil, the situation will not change.

[powercosmic]

02:26 PM on 05/05/2011

Uhh, please tell me that you are aware that the tea party is a creature of the Koch brothers.

The Koch brothers are in the Oil Products pipeline infrastructure business and they benefit from high prices...

[TimRivers]

05:32 PM on 05/05/2011

I'm quite aware that the Koch family, et al, is behind the teabagger "movement" and doing their damndest to make it appear to be a "grass-roots" organization (which its not...its more of the corporate masters trying to maintain their lavish lifestyles at the hands of the Middle Class and the poor). However, the nuts and bolts of the hierachy play out, there are normal citizens out there that continue to try and push the Tea Party agenda with blatant disregard to the facts. THOSE are the people I was referring to..the ones who parrot everything that the Koch family, et al, tell them.

[tktvr2]

08:42 PM on 05/05/2011

Is president Obama going to have the CFTC make a special request for oil trading data from the UK and other foreign trading venues like they in 2008? If you don't have the data from foreign regulators, then you can't make any judgment about speculators. The May 29, 2008 story can be found at [ http://replay.web.archive.org/20090115024428/http://www.cftc.gov/newsroom/generalpressreleases/2008/pr5503-08.html ] So why did oil prices plummet in July 2008? That's only about 45 days after the data from the special request came to the CFTC.

[wrh2]

01:48 PM on 05/05/2011

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NEEDED "NO POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ORGANIZATIONS OR INDUSTRY. DEBATE ISSUES ON MERIT ONLY

[spiromilhous]

04:43 PM on 05/05/2011

Constitutional amendment needed that prohibits posting with CAPS LOCK ON!

[wrh2]

01:46 PM on 05/05/2011

WE NEED AN AMENDMENT WHERE NO DONER MONEY GOES TO AN ELECTED OFFICIAL.

[wrh2]

01:39 PM on 05/05/2011

THE NEED FOR COMPETITION IS NOT SERVED BY MERGERS, WE PAY THE PRICE.

[Don Glenn]

01:04 PM on 05/05/2011

Why do other countries sell gas to their population for so much less while we support subsidies and pay the world market price. Is it to ensure the continued extensive funding of the Republican party at consumers expense? Just a thought

[TheAngryGrapes]

01:00 PM on 05/05/2011

So why isn't the trade deficit going down?

[2lib4oh]

07:21 AM on 05/06/2011

Well, it seems to have been declining in recent times.

[glassbender]

12:17 PM on 05/05/2011

there was some hedge fund clown on cnbc, claiming that the price is still going up, over fear of the middle east lash back, and the same old krap about 'supply and demand' and now that 'WE' export the oil,the taliban /teabaggers still want to 'drill,drill,drill,' to screw,screw,screw,us,us,us, SOMEMORE, way to go GAS,OIL,PARTY..........................

[thebuzzmanisone]

10:21 PM on 05/04/2011

i hear sarah still saying drill baby drill

[Breth]

09:56 PM on 05/04/2011

Tell me again about how price is based on supply and demand, I love an amusing story told with perfect assurance by the completely ignorant.

[opn2itsd]

08:36 PM on 05/04/2011

but don't touch my subsides!!!

[lvdragonlady]

07:22 PM on 05/04/2011

This is where the rules need to be changes.
There would be no high gas prices IF we were using this oil for US instead of exporting it.
Come on America wake up and realize that the oil companies are not helping Americans.

[Djelem]

08:44 AM on 05/05/2011

It doesn't matter where oil is produced. Oil is globally priced. We sell our production on the world market, so even if we produced twice or three times the amount we are currently producing it wouldn't effect the price we pay at the pump.

[Monday Morning]

06:11 PM on 05/04/2011

Gas Prices Up, but so Are Profits and Exports as Refiners Hold Back Production

Rather than match demand for gasoline, oil companies are producing less for the U.S. market and exporting more to other countries, while taking increased profits. The result: higher prices at the pump.

The national average for one gallon of gas right now is $3.88, and in California, where prices are usually higher than in the rest of the country, the cost is $4.22.

Higher prices are the product of the nation’s refineries operating at about 81% of their production capacity, according to the Department of Energy.

Also, refineries have been sending 15% to 20% of their production overseas for about a year, according to one industry analyst. These amounts are double of what they were four years ago.

With gas prices soaring, oil companies’ profits are also rising. ExxonMobil made nearly $11 billion in the first three months of 2011, representing a 69% increase over its performance for the same period last year. BP turned a profit of $7.1 billion and Royal Dutch Shell $6.3 billion in the first quarter.

“This is a page torn right out of the handbook of gouge-onomics,” Charles Langley, senior gasoline analyst at the Utility Consumers’ Action Network in San Diego, told the Los Angeles Times. “We call it the law of supply and demand:

http://www.allgov.com//ViewNews/Gas_Prices_Up_but_so_Are_Profits_and_Exports_as_Refiners_Hold_Back_Production_110502

[Lancer 101]

08:54 AM on 05/05/2011

$65 a tank is what I pay in NM at about $3.69 a gallon. If I drive a few hours to see my Dad it adds up to nearly $200 for a round trip. I will pay it of course, but that's a little perspective of what, I'm sure, many Americans are coping with. It really chaps my a** that big oil reap in the profits, get subsidies, hire 100's of lobbyists and contribute to the laggards in congress. And nobody does anything about it; oh, except Obama has another commission to study the problem.

[BBackSoon]

01:27 PM on 05/04/2011

The US does not export any oil, the Oil Companies Export oil out of the US, just as they are the ones that Import is as well.

I read the other day that the average cost to produce a Barrel of Oil for the big 4 oil companies is around $30. This includes exploration and extraction in very inhospitable places. So when Oil it trading for $115 a bbl, guess who is getting richer and richer?

We need to nationalize the oil produced in our country and off our shores. And tack on say an extra $10 or $20 per bbl this would make the price to produce a whopping $50 a bbl and the oil companies would still enjoy a 50%+ profit.

[mikala]

03:15 PM on 05/04/2011

I totally agree. Most of that oil is pumped from Federal lands which makes it belong to the citizens of this Nation. The government sells the rights to explore but not to rip us off. If it is our oil it should be sold here then export the excess.

[BBackSoon]

03:57 PM on 05/04/2011

Or is that 100% profit. Percentages always mess me up.