U.S. crude oil import patterns have been undergoing significant shifts in recent months. While growing domestic tight oil production from the Bakken formation in North Dakota and elsewhere has helped displace imports from some countries, U.S. import volumes from the Canadian oil sands and Saudi Arabia have been on the rise. In total, U.S. crude imports fell about 94,000 bbl/d (1 percent) from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012. New sources of North American crude supply, adjustments in transport logistics and deep shifts in the depth of conversion and geographic distribution of U.S. refining capacity are redrawing the pattern of U.S. crude imports.
