Houston — U.S. imported the least amount of crude oil last week in nearly five years, data from the Energy Information Administration showed, as companies looked to dodge a hefty year-end tax on oil held in storage.
U.S. crude oil imports last week fell to 4.95 million barrels per day, the lowest since February 2021, according to EIA data.
The ad valorem tax weighed on crude oil imports, said John Kilduff, a partner with Again Capital.
“When you get to this point of the month of December especially, they (companies) will push off taking inventory of crude and refined products,” Kilduff said.
U.S. crude inventories fell on lower imports and robust refining activity, EIA data showed.
Oil imports from Mexico fell to 71,000 bpd in the week to Dec 26, the lowest on record, according to EIA data.
That was lower than the prior all-time low for U.S. crude oil imports from Mexico of 131,000 bpd in the week ended Nov 28, 2025.
Mexican state oil company Pemex has struggled to maintain its production of 1.6 million bpd of crude oil and condensate, a steep fall from the 3.4 million bpd it produced two decades ago.
Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar and Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama – Reuters
