Rising oil price makes fuel America’s biggest export
FOR the first time, the top export of the United States, the world’s biggest gas guzzler, is – wait for it – fuel.
Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more petrol, diesel and jet fuel than any other single export, according to US census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first time in more than 60 years that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.
A decade ago, fuel wasn’t even among the top 25 exports. And for the past five years, America’s top export was aircraft.
The trend is significant because for decades the US has relied on imports of fuel from Europe in order to meet demand. And up until a few years ago, whenever petrol prices climbed, there were complaints in Congress that US refiners were not growing quickly enough to satisfy domestic demand.
Still, the US is nowhere close to energy independence. It is still the world’s largest importer of crude oil. From January till October, the country imported 2.7 billion barrels of oil worth roughly US$280 billion (NZ$321B).
Fuel exports, worth an estimated $88b (Nz$113.6b)last year, have surged partly because crude oil, from which petrol and other refined products are made, is more expensive. Oil prices averaged US$95 (NZ$122) a barrel last year, while petrol averaged US93 (NZ$1.20) cents a litre. A decade ago, oil averaged US$26 (NZ$33.58) a barrel, and petrol averaged US38C (NZ49C) a litre.
Refining companies won’t say how much they make by selling fuel overseas. But analysts say those sales are probably generating higher profits than in the US.