IF that is the case how come we have been buying less and less oil from the Middle East since 1973?
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--U.S. crude oil imports from Africa are consistently surpassing volumes from the Middle East as global competition for secure supplies intensifies.
In five of the first nine months of this year, the U.S. relied more on crude imports from Africa than from the world's richest oil basin, the Middle East, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show. On average through September, both regions account for about 22% of U.S. crude oil imports.
But reflecting a thirst for light, sweet grades of crude over increasingly heavy Middle East grades, U.S. refiners are sharply boosting imports from Africa.
U.S. crude imports were basically flat through September compared to a year ago, at around 10.2 million barrels a day, a review of EIA data shows. However, imports of African crude are on pace to top 2005 full-year import levels by around 4.5%, while Middle East volumes look set to lag 2005 by about 0.5%.
So far in 2006, crude oil imports from Algeria, are running 54% above year-ago levels, and are on pace to average at their highest level since 1980. Algeria, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has regularly pumped well above its assigned OPEC production quota as it gained market share in the U.S.
Algeria, regularly in the top 10 of U.S. crude sources, supplied more than 500,000 barrels a day in August, the most since April 1980, EIA data show.
U.S. crude oil imports from Angola and Chad appear on course to set annual records. U.S. imports from Angola, through September, are averaging more than 500,000 barrels a day, even as the growing West African producer ranks as the top or second-biggest supplier to the booming Chinese market, as well.
Nigeria Flow Steady, Despite Unrest
Volumes from Chad have been topping 120,000 barrels a day in recent months, putting it among the top 15 suppliers, while year-to-date supplies are running near a highest-ever annual rate of near 90,000 barrels a day, EIA data show.
Though Nigeria has been battered by regular sharp cuts in output due to unrest in the Delta producing region, crude supplies to the U.S. are averaging near 1.06 million barrels, slightly above a year ago and not far from the annual average of the past two years, of 1.08 million barrels a day.
The increasing return to the U.S. market of Libyan crude is also pumping up the African share of the U.S. market. After an absence from 1983-2003 due to U.S. sanctions, imports of Libyan crude are averaging around 63,000 barrels a day through September, compared with a full-year 2005 average of 44,000 barrels a day.
Politicians have been trying to limit U.S. dependence on oil imports from the volatile Middle East since the 1973 Arab oil embargo, long before President George W. Bush declared that, "America is addicted to oil" in his state of the union address early this year.
Citing the Middle East twice, Bush said U.S. oil is "often imported from unstable parts of the world," and he set a goal to "replace more than 75% of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025." The comments ruffled feathers in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, but Bush aides said the aim was to replace the volume - with homegrown fuel sources such as ethanol – not literally the Middle East crude.
Still, while African crude imports to the U.S. are rising - from below 1.2 million barrels a day, or less than 13%, in 2002 - to more than 2.2 million barrels a day, or 22% now, the flow from the Middle East is declining.
EIA data show U.S. crude imports from the Middle East, which averaged more than 2.7 million barrels a day, or 29% of U.S. imports in 2001, have fallen to 2.3 million barrels a day so far this year, also at 22%.
Saudi US Flow Lowest Since 1999
Saudi Arabia has deliberately focused its recent market growth in Asia, where it is making inroads in meeting booming demand in India and China and has developed strong ventures in South Korea.
In the U.S., crude imports from Saudi Arabia through September have fallen by 4.6% from a year ago, and at about 1.4 million barrels a day, are on pace to be the lowest annual rate since 1999.
In September, Saudi Arabia climbed into second place among U.S. crude sources, its highest ranking since March 2005. Saudi supplies, of 1.546 million barrels a day, were the most since April and were 4.7% higher than a year earlier, as the kingdom boosted flows to the West Coast to cover reduced supplies of Alaska North Slope crude.
As supplies of prized light, sweet crude decline in Norway and the U.K., analysts expect oil producers in the West Africa Gulf of Guinea region, including Equatorial Guinea and Congo Brazzaville, to play a bigger role in the U.S. market. Still, while some analysts project that the West Africa/Gulf of Guinea region itself will supply 25% of U.S. imports within 10 years, compared with 15% last year, the region, like the Middle East, is rife with concerns over political stability.
Source: David Bird, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4423;
[email protected] My goodness if this is correct then the Gulf War was not about oil for America, neither was the war in Iraq. WOW
On a side noted I made another mistake. On one of my posts I said that the US imports only 10% from the Middle East when in fact it is 22%. Sorry but when I make a mistake I correct it. Funny how all the know it all's did not catch that one.
