From January to May this year, Europe imported an average of 213.1 million barrels of US crude oil while Asia imported 191.1 million barrels - Bloomberg quoted the latest data from the US Population Investigation Agency as saying.
According to data, the last time Asia's import volumes fell behind Europe in the same 5-month period was in 2016, when the US lifted a ban on crude oil exports.
Bloomberg said that this change in oil flow shows how significantly the Russia-Ukraine conflict has shifted energy supply sources.
In an effort to cut funding for the war by Moscow, the US and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russian oil. As a result, many European countries have turned to the US to import oil, while Russia supplies crude at strong discounts to countries such as India and China - which have not imposed any sanctions on Moscow.
Christopher Haines, global crude oil analyst at Energy Aspects, said that as Europe tries to reduce its dependence on Russian energy and switch to sweeter crude oils to replace Russian oil, these trade flow models still exist. US crude oil production is rising but not fast enough to meet the needs of both Asia and Europe. In addition, the Middle East appears to be limited in the amount of oil it can send to Europe.
The region's largest producers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are struggling to meet OPEC+'s production commitments. Other suppliers, such as Libya, are struggling with political instability that has limited exports.
President Joe Biden has just concluded his Middle East visit without fulfilling a major oil and gas commitment to Saudi Arabia. Mr. Biden went to Saudi Arabia in the hope of reaching an agreement on increasing oil production to help reduce gasoline prices - a factor that is causing US inflation to climb to a 40-year high and threatening the US leader's credit rating. However, Mr. Biden did not live up to expectations.
Saudi Arabia - one of the world's largest oil exporters and a leading producer in OPEC - is currently supplying more than 12 million barrels of oil per day. Although Saudi Arabia plans to increase production to 13 million barrels/day, it is not immediately, but is expected until 2027.
"All eyes will be on OPEC's efforts to increase oil production next year and how many market share the OPEC can regain," said Elisabeth Murphy, an expert at global energy market forecasting and analysis company ESAI.
