Saudi Oil Imports Up, Mexico Down

Here’s the latest numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Agency:

Total Imports of Petroleum (Top 15 Countries)
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country	8-Jun	8-May	YTD 2008	7-Jun	YTD 2007
CANADA	2,319	2,346	2,466	2,410	2,470
SAUDI ARABIA	1,490	1,604	1,538	1,534	1,434
MEXICO	1,254	1,218	1,304	1,529	1,590
VENEZUELA	1,213	1,171	1,171	1,364	1,356
NIGERIA	1,020	918	1,092	968	1,080
RUSSIA	762	441	474	285	400
IRAQ	693	583	674	573	476
ANGOLA	649	476	506	514	580
ALGERIA	459	620	530	709	718
BRAZIL	314	335	246	161	205
VIRGIN ISLANDS	271	340	329	218	319
UNITED KINGDOM	254	237	218	345	310
NETHERLANDS	249	192	165	171	126
ECUADOR	184	162	200	168	199
KUWAIT	183	263	222	263	200

Canada remains the largest supplier of oil to the U.S., but Saudi Arabia has now displaced Mexico as the second-largest supplier.  No doubt part of this is due to the decline of the Cantarell field, which is in steep decline.

Update:  From Upstream, Mexico’s crude oil production has dropped 10% compared to last year:

The country’s state-run oil monopoly says it produced 2.84 million barrels of oil daily in the first seven months of the year.

The drop caused exports to fall 16.3% over the same period, for an average of 1.44 million barrels a day.

At the same time, oil export revenues climbed to a total of $30.1 billion, 52% higher than a year before. The rise is driven by high oil prices, said the Associated Press.

Experts say Mexico’s proven reserves will last only 10 more years.

President Felipe Calderon is pushing to allow more private investment to boost production.

Any decline in Mexico’s oil exports to the U.S. does not bode well for us.  Canadian imports have stayed pretty flat, so any reduction in Mexican imports would likely be made up of imports from less stable countries.  If Saudi exports peak (a distinct probability, given the status of the Ghawar field (see here)), oil imports will likely become unstable, which will lead to wide swings in crude oil prices.