Episode summary
America Just Bought Zero Saudi Oil for the First Time Since 1985
Summary
US imports of Saudi crude fell to zero in July, marking the first full month without Saudi oil imports since 1985. The host emphasizes how abrupt the shift was, noting that US refiners were buying about 800,000 barrels a day from Saudi Arabia in March before the flow collapsed by July. He frames the change as more than an energy story, arguing it reflects a broader geopolitical realignment rather than a simple supply move.
The episode says Venezuela replaced part of the lost Saudi supply, with about 600,000 barrels a day imported from Venezuela in July. The host walks through Department of Energy data showing that US imports from Saudi Arabia were above 2 million barrels a day in 2003 and 2004, then gradually declined as fracking expanded. He says the pace of decline accelerated after 2016 and points to roughly 400,000 barrels a day in recent years before the July drop to zero.
He argues the pattern fits a strategy aimed at geopolitical leverage, especially against China, and compares it to Ronald Reagan’s oil-market pressure on the Soviet Union. In his telling, Trump’s team has assembled a similar working group in the Eisenhower building, and recent headlines about Venezuela, Iran, tariffs, and trade disputes all connect back to that effort.
Key takeaways
- The host says US imports of Saudi crude hit zero in July, the first full month without Saudi oil since 1985.
- He says US refiners were buying about 800,000 barrels a day from Saudi Arabia in March before the collapse.
- The host says Venezuela supplied about 600,000 barrels a day in July, replacing part of the Saudi flow.
- He argues the decline in Saudi imports reflects US energy independence trends that accelerated after 2016.
- He claims the deeper story is geopolitical pressure on China, modeled on Reagan-era oil strategy against the Soviet Union.
Notable quotes
“US imports of Saudi Arabian crude fell to zero in July marking the first full month without imports since '85”
“we were importing over about 2 million barrels a day in 2003, 2004”
“This is really a proxy. It really is a big story about geopolitics and power. And it has a lot to do with China”
“Oil prices knocked out the Soviet Union”
How the episode opens
Good morning. This is Dolan Jovaneh with Behind the Markets. Happy Wednesday and boy do I have a story for you today.
Bloomberg out with a report basically that we have not imported a single barrel of Saudi oil in July. We basically have stopped effectively importing Saudi oil and this is the first time that has happened basically since 1985 40 years ago. Really is interesting.
It actually if you look at the statistics which I have here, US imports of Saudi Arabian crude fell to zero in July marking the first full month without imports since '85. And this actually marks a very very sharp reversal from March where we were purchasing US refiners were buying about 800,000 barrels of Saudi oil crude per day. And you know, there's so much to unpack here with this really.
Now, the first question is well, who's replaced all this oil? How have we gotten all this oil if we have basically stopped importing from our biggest supplier, our biggest foreign seller of oil? Well, guess what?
Guess who now have replaced that? It is Venezuela. We imported 600,000 barrels per day from Venezuela in July.
And just to give you an idea of the massive scale of this and really what it means. If you look at America and I have the chart here from the Department of Energy. I'm in the Department of Energy website right here.
You know, and really we were importing over about 2 million barrels a day in 2003, 2004. So, we've been importing most of the last 25 years between 1 and 1/2 to 2.2, 2.3 million barrels a day from Saudi Arabia. And you know, it really started to drop down as fracking became such a very big thing.
And you could really see that drop down to the million barrels a day level all the way through 20 16, basically.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- saudi oil imports
- venezuela oil supply
- oil price pressure
- geopolitics and energy
- us china trade tensions
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Bloomberg
Watch the episode
Watch “America Just Bought Zero Saudi Oil for the First Time Since 1985” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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