Benchmark · weekly · Thousand Barrels per Day

U.S. petroleum trade balance

Is the U.S. a net importer or net exporter of petroleum overall?

This page charts total U.S. petroleum imports (crude plus products) against total exports, week by week. It also charts the net petroleum imports (Petroleum imports minus Petroleum exports). A wider net petroleum imports means Petroleum imports grows faster than Petroleum exports, or falls slower. A narrower balance means the opposite. The balance is a flow in units per day. A weekly balance reading is the average daily difference for that week. It describes physical supply and demand direction, not a financial position.
Readingsweekly
Petroleum imports
7619.00Thousand Barrels per Day
Petroleum exports
11562.00Thousand Barrels per Day
Net petroleum imports
-3943.00Thousand Barrels per Day
13-week balance change
+1812.00 Thousand Barrels per Day
from -5755.00
Balance percentile
1st
of 1852 readings · since 1991-02-08
U.S. petroleum trade balance
Data through 31 July 2026
-5,0000.005,00010,00015,00020,0008 Feb 199113 Mar 199815 Apr 200525 May 201228 Jun 201931 Jul 2026
Petroleum imports
Petroleum exports
U.S. petroleum trade balance: summary statistics (Max range)
SeriesFirstLatestMinMax
Petroleum imports6877.007619.005775.0015217.00
Petroleum exports1224.0011562.00723.0014179.00
Source
EIA
Frequency
weekly
Data through
31 July 2026
Refreshed
11 Aug 2026
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How this is calculated

Formula
net petroleum imports = Petroleum imports − Petroleum exports, in thousand barrels per day

Petroleum imports against Petroleum exports, both in thousand barrels per day. The chart net petroleum imports is Petroleum imports minus Petroleum exports. A positive balance means the first flow exceeds the second. Weekly observations come from the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR).

As of 31 July 2026, the latest readings are Petroleum imports at 7619.00 Thousand Barrels per Day and Petroleum exports at 11562.00 Thousand Barrels per Day. The Petroleum imports line is up 1.9% over the past year and below its long-run median of 9915.00 Thousand Barrels per Day.

How to read it

What a widening or narrowing balance means

The U.S. became a net exporter of petroleum. Crude plus products. In late 2019 for the first time since the 1940s, and net petroleum imports have been negative most weeks since. Occasional net-import weeks still appear (for example around 2023). A negative reading is the structural normal now; the interesting signal is how far it goes. Deep net-export readings mean the refining and production system is pushing large volumes to world markets; swings back toward net imports flag weaker export capacity or stronger import need.

Why Petroleum exports as the comparator

The all-petroleum balance is the aggregate the trade statistics and the IEA use: it captures every barrel moving across the border, crude and product together. Comparing total imports against total exports answers the strategic question. Whether the U.S. is a net supplier or consumer of petroleum to world markets. That no single product flow can.

Why the balance is quoted per day

Both flows are weekly totals from the WPSR. Each is divided by the number of days in the report week. That keeps weeks of different length comparable. The balance uses the same daily unit. A balance of +500 thousand barrels per day means the first flow ran 500 kb/d ahead of the second that week.

Limitations

Weekly observations carry revisions. The WPSR revises earlier weeks when new data lands. Net petroleum imports is a physical flow. Prices also embed stocks, demand, policy, and the financial side of the market. Treat the chart as context for supply and demand conditions, not investment advice.

How this benchmark is used

The 2019 net-exporter milestone

The U.S. crossed into net petroleum exports in late 2019. The first time since the 1940s. And the balance has been the headline of the EIA's weekly trade framing ever since. The page's zero line marks that milestone; every week the balance sits below it, the U.S. is supplying more barrels to world markets than it takes.

Frequently asked questions

6 answers
What is the current U.S. petroleum trade balance?

As of 31 July 2026, the latest readings are Petroleum imports at 7619.00 Thousand Barrels per Day and Petroleum exports at 11562.00 Thousand Barrels per Day. The Petroleum imports line is up 1.9% over the past year and below its long-run median of 9915.00 Thousand Barrels per Day.

How often is this benchmark updated?

This benchmark is built on weekly data. The page is refreshed when the source publishes new observations; the freshness block below the chart shows the exact data-through date and when PIER20 last fetched the file.

What data sources does this chart use?

The chart is built from Petroleum imports and Petroleum exports, sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

What does a negative net petroleum imports mean?

A negative reading means Petroleum exports exceeded Petroleum imports that week. The second flow ran ahead of the first. The balance is signed. Positive favors the first flow. Negative favors the second. The percentile cell ranks the latest balance against the full sample.

How is this different from crude-only imports vs exports?

This page includes refined products on both sides. Crude-only trade is a fraction of the story. The U.S. exports more products than crude, and its crude imports (mostly heavy grades for Gulf refineries) coexist with net product exports. The crude-only page isolates the crude arbitrage; this page is the aggregate account.

How often is the data updated?

Weekly. The Weekly Petroleum Status Report publishes Thursday 1:00 p.m. ET with data through the prior Friday. The fetch retries the next day if a scheduled release is late.

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