Despite Shale Success US Oil Imports Remain High
If only US LNG producers stopped worrying so much about what happens in China those days and looked at the US fuel market as a potential sink for their product, oil imports could further erode substantially. All the oil used to produce diesel needed for long-distance trucking, for example, could pretty quickly be replaced by LNG. And the fuels market offers better margins as well. But it’s not going to happen all alone – it will need some effort by everyone involved. However, whatever the effort. Everyone would win. Clean US fuel for US vehicles leaving a substantial chunk of cash in the US supporting job growth.
U.S. oil demand over the past decade has remained in the 19-21 million b/d range. Crude oil production, meanwhile, has soared 150 percent to ~12.3 million b/d.
