“Why does the US import so much oil when they are the world’s largest exporter of it?”

Question

I keep hearing over and over that the US imports all of its gasoline and raw petroleum that it used, however when you look at the numbers its the greatest exporter of oil ever. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the US to just take some that they produce and keep it to sell to its own consumers.

In: Economics

Answer 1

as others have said it’s not the same oil. we could just use our own and import none but that’s giving up an economic advantage.

our own oil is more expensive to produce than foreign oil. so we can sell ours at a profit, and buy different oil for cheaper since other places don’t have the means to use the cheaper oil as others have said.

if it made economic sense to be a net exporter, we would be.

EDIT: should say petroluem, not oil.