1. How much crude oil is the United States exporting right now?
In the week to 30 Oct 2026, US crude exports were 3.67 million barrels a day according to the EIA's weekly estimate, down from the four-week average of 4.14 million, while imports of 6.37 million left the country a net importer of 2.70 million barrels a day. Exports were equal to 58% of imports that week. Weekly export figures swing sharply, because a handful of very large tankers loading or not loading on the Gulf Coast moves the total; the four-week average is the better guide to the trend.
US crude oil exports and imports, weekly 5 Jan 2024 – 30 Oct 2026, million barrels per day
Latest value (30 Oct 2026):
- Exports: 3.67
- Imports: 6.37
- Exports, 4-week average: 4.14
Source: EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report, own calculation by Global Oil Shock, as of 5 Nov 2026
The chart runs from January 2024 so that two normal years frame the war months. Exports in orange climbed through March and April 2026 to the record week, reached 5.87 million again in late May, fell back over the summer to a low of 3.06 million in the week to 7 Aug 2026, and have since oscillated around the four-week average in red. Imports in blue have been steadier, averaging 6.17 million in 2026: the United States still imports heavy crude for its Gulf Coast refineries while exporting the light sweet crude from the Permian and Bakken that those refineries are not built for. The price gap that drives the export arbitrage is on the Brent–WTI spread; the benchmark itself under WTI.
2. Was April 2026 a record for US crude exports?
Yes: in the week to 24 Apr 2026 the EIA recorded exports of 6.44 million barrels a day, 0.81 million above the previous record of 5.63 million from the week to 24 Feb 2023, and with imports at 5.75 million that week the United States was a net crude exporter by 0.69 million barrels a day, the only such week since the export series began on 8 Feb 1991. Four of the five highest weeks in the series fall between April and the end of May 2026: 24 Apr 2026, 29 May 2026 (5.87 million), 15 May 2026 (5.60 million) and 8 May 2026 (5.49 million). Two weeks earlier, to 10 Apr 2026, exports of 5.22 million had already come within 66 kb/d of imports (5.29 million), the second-lowest net import figure on record.
| Week ending | Exports (kb/d) |
|---|---|
| 24 Apr 2026 | 6,438 |
| 29 May 2026 | 5,874 |
| 24 Feb 2023 | 5,629 |
| 15 May 2026 | 5,604 |
| 8 May 2026 | 5,492 |
| 23 Jun 2023 | 5,338 |
| 13 Oct 2023 | 5,301 |
| 29 Dec 2023 | 5,292 |
Highest weekly values since the EIA series began in February 1991.
The timing is not a coincidence. After traffic through the Strait of Hormuz collapsed at the end of February 2026, Asian and European refiners that had lost Gulf barrels turned to the Atlantic basin, Brent moved to an unusual premium over WTI, and Gulf Coast loadings climbed to the record. Exports fell back over the summer while the strait stayed restricted, which shows that terminal capacity, cargo fixtures and domestic refinery demand set the ceiling, not demand abroad alone. Whether the record stands is not something this page predicts.
Two limits apply. Records refer to the EIA's weekly estimates, which the agency revises when monthly trade data arrive, so the ranking can shift after the fact. And the series covers crude only, not refined products, of which US exports are larger and counted separately.
3. How did the United States go from an export ban to over four million barrels a day?
From 134 kb/d in 1991 to 4.24 million barrels a day in 2026, US crude exports rose by a factor of 32, and almost all of the increase came after 18 Dec 2015, the day Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113), which according to the Congressional Research Service repealed a 40-year prohibition on exporting crude produced in the United States. Before repeal, exemptions allowed exports mainly to Canada and of processed condensate, which is why the series never reads zero: exports averaged 50 kb/d in 2013 and 224 kb/d in 2014, and 0.49 million in 2015, the last year of the ban.
US crude oil exports, yearly averages of weekly values 1991 – 2026, million barrels per day
Latest value (2026):
- Crude exports: 4.24
Source: EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report, own calculation by Global Oil Shock, as of 5 Nov 2026
The years after repeal show the shale boom reaching the world market. Exports averaged 0.49 million barrels a day in 2016, 0.98 million in 2017 and 1.96 million in 2018, a factor of 2.0 in one year, then 2.97 million in 2019 and 3.08 million in 2020 despite the pandemic. The 2022 energy crisis lifted them to 3.53 million, 2023 set the previous yearly record at 4.21 million, 2024 and 2025 settled at 4.09 and 3.87 million, and 2026 to date runs at 4.24 million, 9.7% above 2025 and 8.6 times the 2015 level.
Imports tell the mirror story. They peaked at 10.11 million barrels a day in 2005 and have fallen to 6.17 million in 2026, a decline of 39%. Net imports, the figure that matters for the trade balance and for the old debate about dependence on foreign oil, have shrunk from 10.09 million barrels a day in 2005 to 3.85 million in 2019 and 1.93 million in 2026 to date, 81% less than at the peak. The country is not self-sufficient in crude, because its refineries need grades it does not produce, but the gap is a fraction of what it was; where the remaining imports come from is on oil imports by country, the strategic stockpile on US SPR level.
| Year | Exports (kb/d) | Imports (kb/d) | Net imports (kb/d) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 16 | 10,109 | 10,093 |
| 2006 | 21 | 10,097 | 10,076 |
| 2007 | 23 | 10,031 | 10,007 |
| 2008 | 27 | 9,796 | 9,769 |
| 2009 | 30 | 9,135 | 9,105 |
| 2010 | 33 | 9,098 | 9,065 |
| 2011 | 35 | 8,866 | 8,831 |
| 2012 | 40 | 8,652 | 8,612 |
| 2013 | 50 | 7,797 | 7,746 |
| 2014 | 224 | 7,408 | 7,184 |
| 2015 | 494 | 7,343 | 6,850 |
| 2016 | 485 | 7,899 | 7,414 |
| 2017 | 978 | 7,909 | 6,931 |
| 2018 | 1,960 | 7,849 | 5,889 |
| 2019 | 2,971 | 6,823 | 3,852 |
| 2020 | 3,079 | 5,875 | 2,796 |
| 2021 | 2,907 | 6,134 | 3,227 |
| 2022 | 3,532 | 6,302 | 2,770 |
| 2023 | 4,207 | 6,504 | 2,297 |
| 2024 | 4,091 | 6,574 | 2,484 |
| 2025 | 3,865 | 6,082 | 2,216 |
| 2026 (to 30 Oct) | 4,241 | 6,173 | 1,932 |
Yearly averages of weekly values.
4. How are the export, import and net import figures calculated?
Net imports = imports − exports, both in thousand barrels per day as published in the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report; for the week to 30 Oct 2026 that is 6,374 − 3,675 = 2,699 kb/d, and a negative value, as in the week to 24 Apr 2026 (−688 kb/d), means the country exported more crude than it imported. The export series (EIA code WCREXUS2) starts on 8 Feb 1991, the import series (WCRIMUS2) on 5 Jan 1990, so net imports can be computed from February 1991. The four-week averages are simple means of the last four weekly values, as the EIA itself reports them. Yearly averages are means of all weeks ending in the calendar year; 2026 covers the weeks to 30 Oct 2026.
Three properties of the data matter. The weekly figures are estimates and are revised when the EIA's Petroleum Supply Monthly is published; cite the monthly numbers for history and the weekly ones for the latest picture. The series cover crude oil only, not gasoline, diesel or jet fuel; the product side is visible through the diesel crack spread and US inventories. And exports are measured at the US border, so a cargo loaded in Corpus Christi counts in the week it leaves, not when it arrives in Rotterdam or Ningbo.
The table lists the last fourteen weeks with exports, imports, net imports and the four-week export average, so that every value can be rebuilt from the EIA release. The page is refreshed after each Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
| Week ending | Exports (kb/d) | Imports (kb/d) | Net imports (kb/d) | Exports, 4-week avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Oct 2026 | 3,675 | 6,374 | 2,699 | 4,135 |
| 23 Oct 2026 | 4,854 | 6,374 | 1,520 | 4,408 |
| 16 Oct 2026 | 3,442 | 5,758 | 2,316 | 4,087 |
| 9 Oct 2026 | 4,570 | 6,049 | 1,479 | 4,046 |
| 2 Oct 2026 | 4,765 | 6,840 | 2,075 | 4,112 |
| 25 Sep 2026 | 3,570 | 5,698 | 2,128 | 3,775 |
| 18 Sep 2026 | 3,281 | 5,877 | 2,596 | 4,003 |
| 11 Sep 2026 | 4,831 | 7,058 | 2,227 | 4,131 |
| 4 Sep 2026 | 3,417 | 6,824 | 3,407 | 3,940 |
| 28 Aug 2026 | 4,483 | 6,770 | 2,287 | 3,850 |
| 21 Aug 2026 | 3,792 | 6,158 | 2,366 | 3,650 |
| 14 Aug 2026 | 4,066 | 6,593 | 2,527 | 3,569 |
| 7 Aug 2026 | 3,058 | 7,339 | 4,281 | 3,391 |
| 31 Jul 2026 | 3,685 | 6,198 | 2,513 | 3,556 |
Thousand barrels per day, EIA weekly values; net imports = imports − exports (own calculation).
5. What do record crude exports mean for fuel prices in the US and UK?
Exports of 3.67 million barrels a day link the US crude market to the world price: when Brent trades far above WTI, as it has since the Hormuz collapse, more US crude leaves, inland prices follow the seaborne price upward, and American motorists pay for a shortage that is physically in Asia and Europe. That is the trade-off the 2015 repeal accepted: US producers get the world price and foreign refiners a replacement for Gulf barrels, while US consumers lose the discount they enjoyed in 2011–2014, when crude was trapped at Cushing. How much of today's pump price crude explains is on gas prices vs crude oil.
Two perspectives run through the US debate. One holds that exports have strengthened the country's position and given allies an alternative to Gulf and Russian supply in two crises. The other holds that exporting light crude while importing heavy crude and watching pump prices rise with Brent is a poor deal for households, and the idea of export limits returns whenever pump prices climb. Both read the same data; which view a government acts on is a political question this page does not answer.
For the United Kingdom the relevant point is that Atlantic basin crude, including US barrels, is priced off Brent, not WTI, so British refiners and motorists pay the seaborne premium that the export arbitrage transmits; see UK petrol and diesel prices. For the Northeast United States, which depends on products rather than crude, the relevant series are on US diesel and heating oil prices and diesel shortage winter 2026/27.
Download all values as CSV (UTF-8, raw values and calculation per row, stable URL; CC BY 4.0 for our calculation, raw data under the source's terms)
How to cite: Global Oil Shock (Jörg Dässler), “US Crude Oil Exports 1991–2026: Weekly EIA Data, Records and Net Imports”, as of 5 Nov 2026, https://globaloilshock.com/en/data/us-crude-oil-exports/