A petrochemical plant in Texas. Credit: Jim Parkin via Shutterstock.

US oil refineries have become increasingly reliant on crude oil imports from Canada, which now make up the majority of US imports as of January 2024, according to the US EIA.  

According to the EIA’s estimates, Canada was the source of 60% of US crude oil imports in 2023, compared with 33% in 2013. 

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Canadian crude oil production has also increased over the years, leading to a 4% annual growth of Canadian imports to the US every year from 2013 to 2023.  

In 2023, Canada’s crude oil exports to the US comprised 24% of the latter country’s refinery throughput, compared with 17% in 2013. The EIA report said that Canadian crude oil production in 2023 averaged 4.6 million barrels per day (mbbl/d), almost three times the country’s refinery capacity of 1.7mbbl/d.  

Meanwhile, US oil refining capacity was at 18.4mbbl/d as of 1 January 2024. 

Pipeline capacity to transport Canada’s crude oil exports has also increased in recent years. The report said the Express Pipeline saw its capacity grow from 287,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 310,000bpd in 2020, enabling oil sand producers in Western Canada to boost their exports to refineries in the US Rockies region. 

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The Trans Mountain Expansion Project, which became operational in May 2024, nearly tripled the pipeline capacity to Canada’s Pacific Coast to 890,000bpd. In the same month, the Canada Energy Regulator approved the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline, issuing the last permits needed for the project to start running.  

The US has experienced a steady increase in crude production over the past 15 years, except for 2020 and 2021, when producers faced economic downturns due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Regardless, the EIA said in March that US crude oil production topped global production charts for the sixth consecutive year. It said that the likelihood of any other country breaking the US 2023 crude oil production record in the near future is low because no other country has achieved a production capacity of 13mbbl/d.  

Last year, the US produced an average of 12.9mbbl/d, surpassing the country’s previous national and global record of 12.3mbbl/d, achieved in 2019, Offshore Technology reported. In December 2023, crude oil production reached a new monthly record high average of more than 13.3mbbl/d.