Much like the previous week, U.S. crude oil imports were nearly flat, ticking up by just 36 Mb/d. Although the regions all flipped last week, with PADD 2 and 5 growing 180 Mb/d and 275 Mb/d, respectively, PADD 1 fell by 75 Mb/d, and PADDs 3 and 4 each fell by 175 Mb/d. When we look at imports each week, we often comment on the weekly movements from our top nine import trade partners, as they make up more than 80% of total U.S. imports and are generally a good representation of where the weekly changes occurred. These nine countries are Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Colombia, Ecuador, Nigeria, Libya, and Brazil. Last week we saw that total imports increased by 36 Mb/d, but our big nine combined for an increase of 716 Mb/d. This means that the other roughly 20% of import countries must have been 680 Mb/d negative. While not unheard of, it is rarely this noticeable. Of our top nine import trade partners, Saudia Arabia and Libya combined for an increase of 250 Mb/d, and Ecuador and Brazil combined for 425 Mb/d increase.
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Comin' to America, Part 5 - Imports Remain Key to Rockies and West Coast Refiners' Crude Slates
PADDs 4 and 5 — the Rockies and the West Coast regions, respectively — are each outliers in the U.S. refining sector. Refineries in the Rockies, for example, are generally far smaller than those in other PADDs and, due to pipeline flows, source their crude oil from either Western Canada, the Bakken, or in-region production, including the Niobrara and Utah’s Uinta Basin. West Coast refineries, in turn, have no crude oil pipeline links with U.S. points to the east, and depend on a mix of imported crude from Canada, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as domestic oil from California, Alaska, and rail receipts. Today, we conclude a series on region-by-region crude oil imports and refinery crude slates with a look at PADDs 4 and 5.
Comin' to America, Part 4 - Gulf Coast Refineries Slashing Their Need for Imported Crude Oil
Back in 2005, marine terminals along the Gulf Coast were importing more than 6 MMb/d of crude oil, mostly to feed refineries within PADD 3 but also to pipe or barge north to PADD 2. By 2019, with U.S. shale production finishing up a decade-long rise, imports to the Gulf Coast had declined to less than 1.7 MMb/d. In COVID-impacted 2020, imports sagged, soared, then sagged again, recently settling in at about 1.2 MMb/d, their lowest level in — wait for it — 35 years! The 80% decline in Gulf Coast oil imports since the mid-2000s was made possible in part by big changes in the crude slates at refineries in Texas, Louisiana, and other PADD 3 states, mostly involving the swapping out of light sweet crude from overseas with favorably priced light sweet crude from the Permian and other U.S. shale plays. Today, we look at imports into PADD 3, the home of more than half of the U.S.’s total refining capacity.
