October 2008 Import Highlights:  December 29, 2008
Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in October 2008 has been released and it shows that two countries exported more than 1.40 million barrels per day to the United States. Including those countries, four countries exported over 1.00 million barrels per day of crude oil to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 66 percent of United States crude oil imports in October while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 86 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for October were Canada (2.066 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.435 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.256 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.027 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (0.935 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (0.577 million barrels per day), Angola (0.527 million barrels per day), Brazil (0.345 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.305 million barrels per day), and Kuwait (0.235 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 10.111 million barrels per day in October, which is an increase of (1.704) million barrels per day from September 2008.

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in October, exporting 2.587 million barrels per day to the United States, which is an increase from last month (2.367 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.487 million barrels per day.

Note: The data in the tables above exclude oil imports into the U.S. territories.