America is set to surpass Saudi Arabia in a 'remarkable' oil milestone
By Matt Egan, CNN Business
Updated 11:47 AM ET, Fri March 8, 2019
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/08/busin...bia/index.html
New York (CNN Business) -
Move over, Saudi Arabia. America is about to steal the kingdom's energy exporting crown.
The United States will surpass Saudi Arabia later this year in exports of oil, natural gas liquids and petroleum products, like gasoline, according to energy research firm Rystad Energy.
That milestone, driven by the transformative shale boom, would make
the United States the world's leading exporter of oil and liquids. That has
never happened since Saudi Arabia began selling oil overseas in the
1950s, Rystad said in a report Thursday.
"It's nothing short of remarkable," said Ryan Fitzmaurice, energy strategist at Rabobank.
"Ten years ago, no one thought it could happen."
The expected breakthrough reflects how technology has reshaped the global energy landscape. Drilling innovations have opened up huge swaths of oil and natural gas resources that had been trapped in shale oilfields in Texas, North Dakota and elsewhere.
Led by shale, US oil production has more than doubled over the past decade to all-time highs. The United States now pumps
more oil than any other country, including Russia and Saudi Arabia.
With ample supply at home, Congress in 2015 lifted the 40-year oil export ban. Overseas oil sales have exploded since then. And the US Gulf Coast is
racing to build facilities that can handle surging foreign demand for US crude.
"Excess fossil fuels from America will find plenty of eager buyers in fast-growing Asia," Per Magnus Nysveen, senior partner at Rystad Energy, wrote in the report. ...
...National security, environmental implications
That dominance means that the United States can increasingly rely on oil pumped at home.
Earlier this year, the Energy Department's statistics division predicted that the United States will export more energy than it imports in
2020. That hasn't happened since
1953.
That has important national security implications. While the United States will still need to import oil to power its economy, it's
no longer as beholden to foreign oil as it once was.
Meanwhile, China is importing more oil than ever before....