The U.S. might have a trade deficit overall, but when it comes to energy, trade is in surplus land for the first time – ever. A new milestone has been reached in the global energy markets. For the first time on record, the value of U.S. energy exports exceeded the value of imports based on 2020 data. There was an energy trade surplus of $27 billion last year, as the value of coal, electricity, natural gas, and petroleum exports surpassed that of the value of the imports. And for the first six months of this year, the trade value of energy was a surplus of $9 billion, even as non-energy goods exports experienced a record $938-billion deficit. The bulk of the U.S. energy trade is petroleum, but in 2020 the trade value of petroleum exports vs. imports was a deficit. So where does the surplus come from? Natural gas […]