“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

The reason we import heavy crude is cause our refineries are optimized to refine a medium-ish mix. Refineries were built in a time when the US produced heavy and light crude. The fracking fields we have now produce light crude, but not a lot of heavy. Heavy is imported to mix with the light so we don’t have to build new refineries.