Total U.S. crude oil imports increased by more than 3 percent for the week ending Oct. 9, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show. Data from EIA for the week ending Oct. 9 show the total crude oil imports averaged 7.3 million barrels per day, up by about 247,000 bpd from the previous week. Total imports came at the same time that domestic production dropped. Crude oil production from Alaska increased for the week by 0.6 percent to 490,000 bpd, while output from the lower 48 states dropped 0.9 percent to 8.6 million bpd. Lower crude oil prices are starving energy companies of revenue needed to invest heavily in exploration and production. Data published last week from oil field services company Baker […]