SideNote: Keith Kohl from Energy & Capital reports that the U.S. cut Saudi imports by more than 40% over the last year.


Saudi Oil Exports to US Lowest in 21 Years

By Nadim Kawach
Posted on Feb. 18, 2010

From Emirates Business

Oil giant Saudi Arabia is gradually reducing crude oil exports to its largest trading partner the United States as it is pushing deeper into China and other fast-growing Asian markets, according to official data.

A decision by Washington to limit its hydrocarbon imports from the Middle East and other Opec producers also contributed to Riyadh cutting down on oil supplies to the US market to their lowest level in more than two decades.

Estimates by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy showed Saudi Arabia's crude exports to the US plummeted to about 837,000 barrels per day in November, their lowest level in 21 years.

Saudi Arabia's crude exports to US have remained above one million bpd for most of the years in the past three decades as the two countries had maintained strong political and economic relations. But they have started to decline rapidly over the past months because of Opec quota restrictions on Saudi oil output, plans by the US to cut hydrocarbon imports from the Middle East, strained ties between the two countries and a drive by the kingdom to expand its exports of oil and other products to the Asian markets.

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=3246