U.S. Petroleum Product Exports Continue to Expand

Exports of distillate fueloil represent the largest component of U.S. petroleum product exports, and averaged 1.19 MMbbld in 2015, an increase of 85,000 bbld from 2014. The U.S. exported distillate fuel to 88 different countries last year. The top destination was Mexico, and averaged 143,000 bbld in 2015, an increase of 15,000 bbld from the previous year. Distillate exports to Central and South America averaged 595,000 bbld in 2015, up 10,000 bbld from a year earlier. Chile was the region’s largest single importer of U.S. distillate in 2015, averaging 101,000 bbld.

As continued high U.S. refinery runs and a warmer-than-normal heating season combined to push U.S. distillate inventories above the five-year average and prices lower, exports of distillate to Western Europe also increased. In the third and fourth quarters of 2015, distillate exports to Western Europe increased year-over-year by 80,000 bbld and 136,000 bbld, respectively. Increased U.S. exports contributed to high distillate inventories in the major refining and petroleum hubs of Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Antwerp in Belgium, collectively known as the ARA.

Motor gasoline was the second-largest U.S. petroleum export in 2015, averaging 618,000 bbld to 102 different countries, up 68,000 bbld from 2014. As with distillate, Mexico was the largest recipient of U.S. motor gasoline exports, averaging 307,000 bbld in 2015, one-half of the 2015 total. Central and South America were also major destinations for those exports, receiving 228,000 bbld in 2015, up 29,000 bbld from 2014. U.S. exports of motor gasoline to Africa decreased by 28,000 bbld in 2015 compared to 2014, mostly because of lower exports to Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest gasoline importers, as fuel import program reforms took place.

U.S. exports of propane nearly matched those of motor gasoline in 2015 at 615,000 bbld in 2015, up 193,000 bbld from the previous year. Low U.S. propane prices have encouraged the expansion of propane export capacity since 2013. Unlike exports of distillate and motor gasoline, U.S. propane exports are destined mainly to Asia, averaging 220,000 in 2015, an increase of 138,000 bbld over 2014. Asia is expected to be the leading source of global propane consumption growth, with an expanding petrochemical sector as the main driver.

EIA comments that some of the imports from the U.S. in the Central and South American region in 2015 reflected supply constraints that are likely to be temporary. For example, Ecuadorian demand for U.S. motor gasoline increased while PetroEcuador’s 110,000-bbld Esmeraldas refinery was closed for most of the year for a major upgrade. Colombian demand for U.S. gasoline and
distillate supplies increased after a reduction in supply from neighboring Venezuela and delays in the opening of Ecopetrol’s new 165,000-bbld refinery in Cartagena. U.S. motor gasoline exports increased to Colombia and Ecuador
in 2015, up 15,000 bbld and 10,000 bbld, respectively, over last year. Supplies from the new and upgraded refineries in Ecuador and Colombia, along with Petrobras’s new 230,000-bbld Abreu e Lima refinery in Brazil, have the potential to reduce the need for gasoline and distillate imports from the U.S.