US Imports: Gulf Looks To Keep Share Of Shrinking Pie

• US crude oil imports fell to 7.36mn b/d for the first eight months of2014, 400,000 b/d down on the same period last year and 1.4mn b/d down on January-August 2012. 2014 imports are on track to be the lowest since 1995.

• The volume of crude arriving long-haul has fallen even further. Volumes from neighboring Canada are providing an ever-growing share of US supplies hitting almost 3mn b/d in each of the last three months – the three highest volumes ever (2.96mn b/d in August and 2.94mn b/d for both September and October based on initial weekly data). For August, Canada came within 40,000 b/d of for the first time ever surpassing supplies from the whole of OPEC (around 40% of US August imports each). The Americas as a whole supplied a whopping 72% (2.96mn b/d) of US August crude imports, again a record. (CONTINUED - 633 WORDS)