March 2008 Import Highlights:  May 12, 2008
Preliminary monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in March 2008 has been released and it shows that two countries exported more than 1.50 million barrels per day to the United States. Including those countries, a total of three countries exported over 1.20 million barrels per day of crude oil to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 69 percent of United States crude oil imports in March while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 88 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for March were Canada (1.727 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.535 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.232 million barrels per day), Nigeria (1.138 million barrels per day), and Venezuela (0.858 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (0.773 million barrels per day), Angola (0.375 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.232 million barrels per day), Ecuador (0.231 million barrels per day), and Brazil (0.188 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.385 million barrels per day in March, which is a decrease of (0.221) million barrels per day from February 2008.

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in March, exporting 2.303 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month (2.464 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.542 million barrels per day.

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