November 2008 Import Highlights:  January 15, 2009
Preliminary monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in November 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 68 percent of United States crude oil imports in November 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 November were Canada (2.028 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.461 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.296 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.071 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (0.775 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (0.452 million barrels per day), Angola (0.438 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.381 million barrels per day), Brazil (0.280 million barrels per day), and Kuwait (0.272 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.817 million barrels per day in November, which is a decrease of (.294) million barrels per day from October 2008.

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in November, exporting 2.528 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month (.059 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.488 million barrels per day.

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