Saudi and Persian Gulf Oil Among US and California Oil Imports
While our relations and the world status with Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf are now being examined, that is far beyond my field. I will just examine our use of their oil imports in the US and California. The short summary is that Saudi oil imports make up 4.7% of total US oil use, and 15.7% of total California oil use. The US dependence on Persian Gulf oil is 17% of US imports, and 8.5% of all US oil. California’s dependence on the Persian Gulf oil is 44% of California imports, and 25% of California refined oil. So California’s 25% dependence on Persian Gulf oil is triple that of the US dependence at 8.5%.
In 2017, the US used 7.28 billion barrels of petroleum products. That comes out to 20.0 million barrels per day. In 2015, the world used 93 million barrels of petroleum a day, or 34 billion barrels per year. So the US used 21.4% of world petroleum, although we have mixed years here.
The 10.1 million barrels imported per day are 50.5% of US petroleum usage in 2017.
The following are the data on the sources of US petroleum imports in 2017, from eia.gov. Data are in thousands of barrels per day, followed by their percent of imports.
All Countries: 10,144. 100% of imports.
Persian Gulf: 1,746. 17%
OPEC: 3,366. 33% or 1/3 are from OPEC.
Non-OPEC: 6,778. 67%
List by Country – OPEC Countries are starred.
Canada: 4,054. 40.0% of imports.
Saudi Arabia*: 955. 9.4%
Mexico: 682. 6.7%
Venezuela*: 674. 6.6%
Iraq*: 604. 6.0%. The top 5 make up 68.7% or two thirds.
Russia: 389. 3.8%
Columbia: 362. 3.6%
Nigeria*: 334. 3.3%
Brazil: 224. 2.2%
Ecuador*: 207. 2.0%
Algeria*: 189. 1.9%
Others are below 150 or 1.5%.
This means that Saudi petroleum to the US was 349 million barrels in 2017.
So Saudi Arabia is 9.4% of petroleum imports, but only 4.7% of daily petroleum usage. Petroleum can be sold everywhere, except for delivery routes, or is fungible.
In contrast to the US, in 2017, Saudi Arabia supplied 29% of California’s crude oil imports, or triple the percentage for the US.
California Foreign Oil Imports
Saudi Arabia* 29%
Ecuador*. 20%
Columbia. 14%
Iraq*. 8%
Kuwait* 7%
Brazil 4%
Mexico 4%
Canada 4%
Angola 3%
Other 7%
64% of California foreign oil imports are from OPEC countries. That is almost 2/3, while only 1/3 of US oil imports are from OPEC countries. 44% of California’s oil imports are from three countries on the Persian Gulf.
Total California crude oil imports in 2017 were 344.2 million barrels, and Saudi Arabia provided 98.1 million barrels.
For crude oil sources to California refineries, the total in 2017 was 625 million barrels. Of this, foreign oil was 354 million barrels or 56.7%. California’s own oil was 194 million barrels or 31.0%. Alaskan oil was 77.1 million barrels or 12.3%. Alaskan oil used to be as high as 29.7% in 1999.
Since 44% of the California imports are from the now endangered Persian Gulf (June 2019 update), and imports are 56.7% are of total California refined oil, multiplying them gives 24.9% or a quarter of California oil refining is from the Persian Gulf.
So Saudi Arabia supplied 98.1 million out of 625 million barrels, or 15.7% of total California refined oil. We compare this to Saudi oil supplying 4.7% of total US oil, so the percentage supply to California was 3.34 times the percentage supply to the US.
Since total Saudi petroleum to the US in 2017 was 349 million barrels, and Saudi oil to California was 98.1 million barrels, California used 28.1% of Saudi imports. The California population in 2018 is 40 million, and the US population is 329 million, so California has 12.2% of the US population. So California uses 2.3 times the per capita Saudi oil as the US population does.
At the going price of the OPEC Basket of $80 per barrel, the US at 349 million barrels pays $28 billion a year to Saudi Arabia. Part of this is the California uses of 98.1 million barrels, which supplies $7.85 billion a year to Saudi Arabia. The US gets no oil from Iran.
