December 2008 Import Highlights:  February 27, 2009
Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in December 2008 has been released and it shows that two countries exported more than 1.30 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 59 percent of United States crude oil imports in December while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 87 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for December were Canada (2.033 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.394 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.126 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.028 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (0.869 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Angola (0.553 million barrels per day), Iraq (0.519 million barrels per day), Ecuador (0.252 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.235 million barrels per day), and Brazil (0.208 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.419 million barrels per day in December, which is a decrease of (.504) million barrels per day from November 2008.

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in December, exporting 2.600 million barrels per day to the United States, which is an increase from last month (.068 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.471 million barrels per day

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