Trump says US doesn’t need Middle East oil; data, experts prove otherwise

US President Donald Trump gestures to supporters as he arrives for a campaign rally in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, on September 16, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump has been accused by experts of “hyperbole” for falsely claiming that America has become a net energy exporter and no longer needs to import oil from the Middle East.

Trump started one of his busier Twitter days on Monday by sending out several posts about the recent attacks on the world’s largest refinery in Saudi Arabia, which slashed the kingdom’s oil production by about half and caused global oil prices to jump.

He gave himself credit for turning America into “the Number One Energy Producer in the World,” implying that his country was immune to the consequences of the devastating attack on Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco.

“Because we have done so well with Energy over the last few years (thank you, Mr. President!), we are a net Energy Exporter, & now the Number One Energy Producer in the World,” he wrote. “We don’t need Middle Eastern Oil & Gas, & in fact have very few tankers there, but will help our Allies!”

The claim contradicted the US government’s own data, which showed that while the US has indeed become a large producer of oil and gas thanks to a technology-driven drilling boom that was launched over a decade ago, it still imported large amounts of crude oil and petroleum products from the Persian Gulf region in 2019.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its latest available report that last year, the US imported about 9.93 million barrels per day of petroleum from some 86 countries, of which 78 percent was crude oil.

Interestingly, Saudi Arabia was the second largest oil provider for the US, selling it around 900,000 bpd. Iraq was ranked fifth on the list with a little more than half a million bpd. Canada topped the list by selling an average of 4.28 million bpd to the US.

America produces around 12 million barrels of oil a day but consumes a staggering 20 million bpd, meaning that it needs to import a substantial amount to meet its needs.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, is the world's largest oil exporter by shipping about 7 million barrels of crude daily around the globe, Reuters reported.

“By and large, we are still importing quite a bit and not totally immune to the world market,” Jean-François Seznec, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, told reporters on Monday.

Phillip Cornell, another senior fellow with the Council, who has also worked for Aramco as an adviser, called Trump’s tweet “nonsense.”

“He’s a guy who likes hyperbole,” Cornell said.

America’s dependence on Middle Eastern oil is not just about high consumption levels. Several key refineries across the US are also set up to work with the type of crude that comes from the countries in the region.

As an example, Saudi Arabia’s Aramco which owns half of the biggest American oil refinery, Motiva Enterprises LLC in Texas, works best with Saudi crude.

There are other refineries in the US, particularly in California, which are located far away from big oil fields and therefore rely on cargoes that come from other countries.

The EIA states that in 2018, the US imported an average of 48 million barrels per month of crude oil and petroleum products from the Persian Gulf region, a third down from a decade ago but still around the same levels as in 1995 and 1996.

Later on Monday, Trump retweeted a White House post that boasted oil production in the state of New Mexico -- where he was scheduled to hold a rally -- "is up an incredible 110 percent."

US gas prices expected to rise after Saudi attack

Meanwhile, market analysts are warning American motorists of higher gas prices following the global price hike caused by the attacks on the Saudi oil industry.

The attacks on Saturday cut Saudi oil production by around 5.7 million bpd, more than 5 percent of global oil supply, sending up oil prices by as much as 20 percent.

Analysts said that US pump prices were likely to rise in the coming days following a more than 10-percent hike in gasoline on Sunday trading.

California motorists were expected to be hit the hardest because its refineries needed to import oil for supplies as they were not connected to oil-rich states such as Texas via pipelines.

Data by the California Energy Commission show that Saudi Arabia accounted for about 37 percent of the state’s total foreign oil imports last year.

“Saudi Arabia has always sought to portray itself as a reliable supplier of crude to the market and for this reason, we think they will opt to supply the export market for crude first, then products,” Robert Campbell, head of oil products research at Energy Aspects, said.


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