Petroleum accounts for most US energy trade and is the largest source of both exports and imports. U.S. petroleum exports remained near records in 2025, with most exports going to other countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Energy companies in the US trade with others across the world in a global market. In general, energy companies in the US can:
- Sell products to US customers.
- Export products to customers in other countries.
- Import products from other countries.
- Store products for later.
Petroleum companies in the US can also import crude oil and petroleum products to be further processed and sold, either domestically or re-exported to other countries. Crude oil must be processed at refineries before it can be used as petroleum products, such as motor gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
Petroleum has been the largest source of US energy exports since 1999 and accounted for 63% of total energy exports in 2025. US petroleum exports grew substantially during the past decade in part because:
- The US removed restrictions on crude oil exports in 2016.
- Domestic production and export infrastructure expanded.
- Global demand increased, including from Europe’s recent ban on seaborne crude oil imports from Russia in 2022 and petroleum products in 2023.
The Gulf Coast region is the only net petroleum-exporting region in the US, but its net exports are enough to outweigh the net imports of all other regions, making the US as a whole a net petroleum exporter. Petroleum has been the largest source of total US energy imports since at least 1949, the earliest year on EIA's records, and in 2025 accounted for 83% of imports. In 2025, total petroleum imports into the US were 17 quads, down 6% from 2024.
Natural gas has been the second-largest source of US total energy exports since 2016. In 2025, US natural gas exports were a record 9 quads, accounting for 29% of total energy exports. From 2015 to 2025, natural gas exports from the US quadrupled as both domestic production and LNG export capacity increased to meet global demand. Similar to petroleum products, demand for US LNG in Europe increased as countries sought alternative supply sources after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Natural gas has been the second-largest source of total US energy imports since the late 1950s and accounted for 16% of total imports in 2025. Natural gas imports from Canada are important to help stabilise the US market during periods of supply and demand imbalance, such as during cold winter months. In the Monthly Energy Review, the EIA convert energy sources measured in different units to common units of heat, called British thermal units (Btu). The report uses Btu to compare different types of energy that are not directly comparable, such as barrels of petroleum and cubic feet of natural gas.