HOUSTON, July 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. crude oil imports and exports both decreased during the week ending July 12, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday.
U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.8 million barrels per day (b/d) last week, down 470,000 b/d from the previous week, while crude oil exports averaged about 2.5 million b/d, down about 514,000 b/d from the previous week, according to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report.
Over the past four weeks, crude oil imports averaged about 7.1 million b/d, down 1.38 million b/d year-on-year, while crude oil exports averaged about 3.1 million b/d, up about 880,000 b/d year-on-year.
In its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook released last week, EIA said the U.S. crude oil and petroleum product net imports will average 0.6 million b/d in 2019, down from an average of 2.3 million b/d in 2018.
EIA also forecast the United States will be a net exporter of crude oil and petroleum products at a rate of 0.1 million b/d by the fourth quarter of 2019 and by an average of 0.5 million b/d in 2020.