The US Energy Information Administration estimates spell out US energy import will be more than its export until 2026. However, this may vary depending on factors such as pricing, global demand and regulation.
America has been exporting energy for decades now. President Donald Trump, said, “We are now, very proudly, an exporter of energy to the world.”
The Congress lifted the 40-year ban on US oil exports in 2015. This allowed crude oil pumped in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota to be export overseas.
Now US crude oil exports are flourishing, in part, because of America’s shale oil boom. The surge in output has scaled up US oil production, and will potentially overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia to rank as the world’s largest crude producer.
In October 2017, America hit a record of exporting 1.7mn barrels of oil per day, observed the Energy Information Administration. This accounts for four times the amount in 2015. At the time, “What happened is pretty dramatic. It basically drained the US,” said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service.
It recently became a net exporter of natural gas because technology advancements have eased abundance of gas extract from shale formations.
The boost in US oil production has benefited consumers globally by stabilising the prices. “For decades the only question was how fast are US oil imports going to rise,” IHS Markit Vice-President Daniel said, “Now global oil markets have been put in a bottle and shaken up, and new patterns are emerging.”