The United States became a net exporter of oil and refined fuels last week breaking almost 75 years of dependence on foreign oil, reported Bloomberg on Thursday.
The US Energy Information Administration in a report on Thursday said net exports of crude oil and petroleum products from the country was 2,11,000 barrels per day in the week ending November 30, reported Financial Times. The Energy Information Administration said the US exported 3.2 millions barrels of oil during the week, and more than 5.8 million barrels of other refined products. The country imported 7.2 million barrels the same week.
In 2005, the country’s net oil imports averaged 12.5 million barrels per day.
The rise in shale production, end of prohibition on crude oil exports, and investments in advanced oil refining capacity have resulted in an unprecedented boom in oil production in the country.
“We are becoming the dominant energy power in the world,” said analyst Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. “But, because the change is gradual over time, I don’t think it’s going to cause a huge revolution, but you do have to think that OPEC is going to have to take that into account when they think about cutting,” Bloomberg quoted him as saying.
The report of US becoming a net exporter of oil comes as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is meeting in Vienna to discuss curbing production as global prices of oil have dropped since October.
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