For first time, crude exports exceed imports along Texas' Gulf Coast

August 20, 2018

Oil exports from the Texas Gulf Coast eclipsed imports for the first time earlier this year as growing U.S. oil production pours into foreign markets and the shale revolution continues to reshape the global energy industry.

The milestone, reached in April and expanded in May, is another reminder of how quickly the flood of oil from the Permian Basin in West Texas and other shale fields has shifted the balance of trade and the region's role in the world economy.

For decades, the Gulf Coast was a net importer of crude oil, pouring money into the accounts of foreign oil producers in the Middle East, Latin America and other regions.

Today, with U.S. exports recently hitting a record of 2 million barrels a day, nearly three of every four barrels - 1.4 million a day - move through Texas Gulf Coast ports, the U.S. Energy Department reported Monday. In May, the most recent data available, the region exported nearly 500,000 more barrels of crude each day than it imported, bringing into the region billions of dollars that are driving new investment, creating jobs and helping power one of the nation's fastest-growing state economies.

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