Higher net crude oil imports are set to make the United States a net petroleum importer this year again, as in 2021, after a historic shift of being a net petroleum exporter in 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Friday. A net petroleum importer is a country that imports more crude oil and refined products than the crude and products it exports. While the U.S. has been a net petroleum products exporter for more than a decade, it has always been a net crude oil importer, that is, it imports more crude than it exports. The total crude and petroleum products trade marked a historic shift in 2020 when the U.S. became a net petroleum exporter. On a monthly basis, it was in September 2019 when the United States exported more crude oil and petroleum products than it imported—the first month in which America was a […]