EIA launches oil import analysis tool

The EIA, or Energy Information Administration, has launched a new, online tool to enable policymakers, analysts and general members of the public to track trends in the import of crude oil into the United States. Rather than presenting a static report or table showing oil import data, the new tool enables a user to display data by month or year as maps, charts and graphs, using a variety of selection criteria such as crude type, source country, port of entry, processing company and processing refinery.

EIA says that the tool can prove particularly helpful in assessing the impacts on oil imports of the growing production of oil in the United States. An assessment of this type is a factor in evaluating the potential impact of relaxing limitations on the export of U.S. crude, the agency says.

Initial use of the tool has already provided some useful insights, EIA says. For example, in response to the dominance of light sweet grades in new U.S. oil production there was a 71 percent decline in the import of light crude between 2010 and the first eight months of 2014. Light crude imports from Nigeria and Algeria have particularly declined, with the decline in U.S. imports being especially notable on the Gulf Coast.

In 2013 imports by the 10 largest U.S. refineries accounted for 55 percent of light crude imports, with the remainder of those imports scattered among 100 other refineries, the EIA says. And, while some refineries appear to have accommodated increasing volumes of domestic light crude by reducing their imports of heavier crudes, some refineries have modified their facilities to accommodate higher volumes of heavier crude imports, the agency says.

“Our nation is importing record low levels of oil from the world’s volatile regions and exporting record volumes of all sorts of energy to our friends and allies,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, an ardent supporter of relaxing U.S. oil export restrictions. “This new tool is a welcome addition to the analytical arsenal at EIA.”

The tool can be found on the EIA website at:

www.eia.gov/beta/petroleum/imports/browser/

- Alan Bailey