US Growing More Reliant on Middle East Oil
Posted at 3:15 p.m. on Feb. 26
Despite a boom in domestic oil production as a result of the “shale gas revolution,” the US “oil imports from the Gulf region continued to rise,” the Financial Times reports.
“By the end of November the US had already imported more than 450m barrels of crude from Saudi Arabia, more than it imported from Riyadh in the whole of 2009, 2010 or 2011… The Gulf as a whole accounted for more than 25 per cent, a nine-year high.”
“Oil produced in shale fields like the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas is of a light high-quality variety. But Gulf oil is still vital for the US because many US refineries are set up to process heavier crude oils. So while imports of light crudes from countries such as Nigeria have fallen dramatically, demand for Gulf crudes has not.”
