Saudi Top US Oil Supplier In Jan With 21% Market Share -EIA

sg.biz.yahoo.com Thursday March 13, 8:45 PM (This article was originally published Wednesday).

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Saudi Arabia remained the top supplier of U.S. imported crude oil in January, as the kingdom boosted supplies to make up for the paralysis of Venezuela's exports.

According to company-level import data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, the U.S. imported 1.820 million barrels a day of Saudi crude, up from 1.815 million barrels a day in December.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 21% of U.S. crude oil imports in January, which totaled 8.551 million barrels a day.

Imports from Venezuela, where the oil industry was crippled by a general strike aimed at ousting President Hugo Chavez, fell sharply from December's already low levels to just 390,000 barrels a day, about a quarter of the volume typically imported from the Andean nation.

Venezuela has managed to boost oil output substantially since the general strike ended a month ago.

As reported, Venezuela's crude oil production stood at 2.1 million barrels a day Tuesday, about two-thirds of the country's prestrike output, a former trading manager with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (E.PVZ) told Dow Jones Newswires.

The government puts output at around 2.65 million barrels a day and has lifted the force majeure on crude oil exports.

Crude oil imports from Canada, the No. 2 U.S. supplier, jumped to 1.621 million barrels a day in January from 1.490 million b/d in December. Imports from No. 3 Mexico fell, to 1.566 million b/d from 1.734 million b/d.

Nigeria came in fourth, with 798,000 b/d of crude oil imports, up from 625,000 b/d the month before.

Imports from Iraq also jumped, even as the U.S. prepared for a possible attack on the Persian Gulf country. The U.S. imported 600,000 b/d of crude oil from Iraq in January - about one out of every 14 barrels brought into the U.S. that month - up from 366,000 b/d in December.

Valero Energy (VLO) was the top U.S. importer of Iraqi crude, bringing in 140,000 b/d. ConocoPhillips (COP) was second, with 101,000 b/d.

Third was Atofina, the chemical branch of TotalFinaElf (TOT), which imported 78,000 b/d of Iraqi crude. BP PLC (BP) brought in 62,000 b/d, and Royal Dutch/Shell (RD) unit Motiva Enterprises LLC brought in 65,000 b/d.

Citgo, the U.S. refining and marketing arm of PdVSA, turned to Iraq to make up for some of its lost Venezuelan supply. Citgo brought in 34,000 b/d worth of Iraqi crude in January.

Total U.S. oil imports were down 68,000 b/d from December.

-By Andrew Dowell, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4430; andrew.dowell@dowjones.com