For the first time in 67 years, U.S. energy exports in 2019 topped imports

The energy market is trashing the record books. On Monday, when oil prices closed in negative territory for the first time, there came another statistic from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): the U.S. had turned a net exporter of energy in 2019, the first time this happened in 67 years.

The face of the U.S.’s energy trade changed completely in 2019. Whereas the country reported net imports of 3.6 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) in 2018, this swung to 0.8 quads of net exports in 2019.

This was “the largest change in U.S. energy trade since 1980,” the EIA noted.

The U.S. energy imports and exports break records

Total gross energy exports from the United States hit an all-time high of 23.6 quads in 2019.

On the other hand, the U.S. energy imports plunged in 2019 to 22.8 quads, their lowest level since 1995.

“Last year’s change in U.S. energy trade was largely driven by decreases in net imports of crude oil,” the EIA said. “Natural gas net exports also increased, and net trade of the other energy sources remained similar to their 2018 levels.”

Crude oil imports continue to fall

Though the U.S. has been a continuous importer (on a net basis) of crude oil since at least 1949, in 2019 net imports decreased sharply by 31%.

“This decrease of 4.1 quads (the equivalent of about 1.9 million barrels per day) accounted for most of the change in the net U.S. trade of total energy,” observed the EIA.

In 2019, while the U.S. decreased its gross imports of crude oil, it stepped up its gross exports of the commodity.

The U.S. boosted its exports of crude oil by 45% in 2019 over 2018 levels. This was driven by a boom in shale production and robust worldwide demand for light, low-sulfur oil.

On the other hand, crude oil imports by the U.S. have been on a downtrend for a while now. After touching a peak of 30 quads in 2005, they have declined every year since 2016.

Nevertheless, after Monday’s debacle in crude, when prices plunged below zero, President Trump said his administration will look at a proposal to block Saudi Arabian oil shipments to the US to shield the US shale oil industry from the rout in prices.

Natural gas trade profile

Gross exports of U.S. natural gas reached a record of 4.7 quads (nearly 12.8 billion cubic feet per day) in 2019. This was up 29% from the previous year, continuing a five-year trend of annual increases. Gross U.S. natural gas imports also fell by 5% from the previous year.

U.S. imports of natural gas have slumped from 3,006 bcf in 2016 to 2,741 bcf in 2019. In the same period, exports of natural gas nearly doubled from 2,335 bcf in 2016 to 4,655 bcf in 2019.