Nation : Imported Oil Tops 50% Mark in July
Imports for the first time in 12 years supplied more than half the nation’s demand for petroleum in July as production from Alaska’s aging fields slowed, the American Petroleum Institute reported today.
The oil industry group in its monthly statistical survey reported that total imports of crude oil and refined products averaged 8.5 million barrels a day, or 50.4% of all U.S. deliveries.
The only other time imports supplied more than half U.S. needs was 1977, when foreign oil exceeded the 50% mark three times in the months of March, May and July.
Alaska contributed 234,000 barrels to the total 574,000 barrels-a-day total year-to-year July decline, the API said, although half of the state’s drop was a temporary cutback caused by maintenance work.
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