US pumps surplus shale oil into Britain

The United States is the biggest source of imported oil by Britain for the first time in more than 60 years after fracking turned it into a global exporter.

Imports from America have risen since 2015 when the country lifted a ban on selling abroad as a dramatic rise in shale oil production left it with a surplus. The US overtook Norway to become the UK’s biggest source of oil imports in September and again last month, according to figures from Kpler, a cargo tracking firm based in London.

Last month Britain imported 264,000 barrels a day from the US, compared with 181,000 from Norway, 131,000 from Algeria and 110,000 from Russia, its figures show.

Research by the Financial Times, which first reported the data, suggest that the last time this was the case was at the time of the Suez crisis in 1956 when the US authorised shipments to help Britain as the Suez Canal closure caused shortages.

Domestic oil supplies from the North Sea have more than halved since a peak at the turn of the millennium, as production from the old oilfields dwindles/

The country became a net importer of oil in 2005.

Source: The Times