Texas is now exporting more oil than it imports for the first time in history. U.S. oil exports in May hit a record of 2 million barrels per day, with a majority of it going out through the Lone Star State.
But it could've been a lot more.
“The Port of Corpus Christi exports more oil than any other U.S. port and it's in the middle of a $335 million project to deepen and widen the port, so as good as the news is, we're really just getting started,” says Steve Everley, managing director of strategic communications at FTI Consulting.
“The crude oil export ban was lifted in December of 2015, since then Texas has gone from about two-and-a-half million barrels per day, we're now over three million barrels per day.”
The shale boom in West Texas is expected to continue over the next decade.
“Within about five years the Permian Basin is going to be producing over five million barrels per day, which would be bigger than any OPEC country except for Saudi Arabia,” says Everley.