Riyadh Retains Ranking As Top Supplier To U.S.

Published January 17th, 2001 - 03:00 GMT

Saudi Arabia maintained the pole position as top crude supplier to the U.S. in November 2000, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the number-crunching unit of the U.S. Energy Department, announced on January 16th.

According to the EIA, Riyadh exported 1.567 million b/d to the U.S. market in November, up 90,000 b/d from the previous month, and far ahead of its closest competitor.

Venezuela, Mexico and Canada held their second, third and fourth rankings, respectively. U.S. imports from Caracas totaled 1.324 million b/d in November, up 17,000 b/d from October, while Mexican exports to the U.S. averaged 1.287 million b/d for the month, 43,000 b/d higher than the prior month.

Canada logged fourth place again, supplying the U.S. market with 1.255 million b/d in November, up 17,000 b/d from October. Although Nigeria’s exports to the U.S. in November were down 129,000 b/d to 814,000 b/d in November, it captured the fifth top supplier ranking over Iraq, which provided the U.S. market with 585,000 b/d that month.

Iraq’s overall crude supplies have plunged more than one-third since Baghdad began suspending its exports on November 30th. U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said on January 16th that Iraq’s oil exports averaged 672,000 b/d for the week ending January 12th.

In addition, he noted that the U.N. overseers estimated that Baghdad lost an estimated $1 billion in revenue in December due to its disruption of exports over pricing issues.