Lloyd’s List: US Crude Oil Imports Edge Towards 15-Year Low

“Crude imports into the US on tankers could drop to levels last seen 15 years ago during the rest of this year, according to shipbroker Poten & Partners. The US broker based its forecast on the extraordinary boom in US crude production, which is helping to supply US refineries with crude stocks to draw down now. On top of that, US imports have slumped due to falling demand for oil products in the big urban centres. All these factors ‘would imply sharply lower crude imports for the remainder of 2012, to levels not seen since 1997’, said Poten analysts in their latest tanker report.”