Falling U.S. Oil Imports Will Reshape the World Crude Market

If you had told an oil analyst seven years ago that by 2014 the U.S. would import only 6 million barrels of crude oil per day, or roughly a third of what the country uses, he would have been incredulous. Imports back then accounted for roughly two-thirds of U.S. oil consumption, according to the federal Energy Information Administration, and had been rising for 30 years. With all its major fields discovered and production dropping, America seemed destined to import more and more oil, especially from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and West Africa.

Then came hydraulic fracturing—the technique of blasting water into shale to extract oil and gas—and the energy picture in the U.S. changed dramatically in a few short years. Now the International Energy Agency predicts that by 2020, U.S. oil production will exceed Saudi Arabia’s. This is altering decades of established trading patterns.