As Bush, King Talk Oil, Saudis Gain In US Market

…As the leader of the world’s largest oil consumer and the world’s largest oil exporter met at the king’s horse ranch, a startling trend emerged from U.S. government oil data: The Saudis already are playing the strongest role they have in supplying the U.S. crude oil market in nearly five years.

In the first 11 months of 2007, the kingdom eclipsed Mexico as the No. 2 crude oil source, figures from the Energy Information Administration show. The Saudis haven’t ranked as the second-biggest crude supplier to the U.S. for a full year since 2002.


In November 2007, the U.S. imported 1.530 million barrels a day of Saudi crude, the most since May, preliminary EIA data show. The kingdom’s 15.4% share of U.S. crude oil imports, which averaged 9.948 million barrels a day in November, was the most since December 2006.

In the latest four months of data available – from August to November 2007 – the Saudis have ranked second, ahead of the traditional No. 2 supplier, Mexico, and behind Canada, which has been the top crude oil supplier for 21 months, since March 2006.

The Saudi ranking in the table of top U.S. crude suppliers hasn’t been so high over four consecutive months since 2003, when the kingdom was the No. 1 supplier between March and July 2003.

But the ascent of the Saudis in the U.S. market – amid still-restrained output – speaks less about the kingdom than it does about a precipitous drop in oil imports from Mexico.

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