Countries Dependent on Oil Imports
Top Black Gold Importers Feel the Pain from Soaring Fuel Prices
May 4, 2008 
In just over a year, oil prices have soared over 35% from US $86 to $117 per barrel. Forecasters from Oil-Price.net see prices rising a further 30% to $152 barrel. Some analysts think that even that price hike is conservative.
Calculations based on the April 2008 statistics from the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook show that total daily global oil imports in 2004 were 63.2 million barrels per day, an amount equal to about 78.7% of the comparable statistic for overall world oil consumption.
Listed below are the 10 countries that import the most oil in barrels per day. As oil prices jump, these nations have to spend more for their fuel supplies at a time when demand for their manufactured products are slowing.
Top Ten Oil Importing Countries
- United States … 13.2 million barrels per day (63.2% of domestic consumption)
- Japan … 5.4 million bpd (101.3%)
- China … 3.2 million bpd (46%)
- Germany … 3 million bpd (112.8%)
- Netherlands … 2.5 million bpd (100%)
- South Korea … 2.4 million bpd (113.1%)
- Italy … 2.2 million bpd (126%)
- India … 2.1 million bpd (86.1%)
- France … 1.9 million bpd (94.5%)
- Singapore … 1.8 million bpd (228.2%).
American Oil Account Deficit
America’s oil industry generates about 8 million barrels of oil per day. Of that daily amount, the U.S. exports a little over 1 million barrels of oil. Some critics insist that American oil should not be exported at all, and should instead be used towards U.S. daily consumption of about 21 million barrels.
High oil prices exert enormous pressure on American automotive manufacturers to produce fewer diesel-fuel-burning larger vehicles and more smaller fuel-efficient vehicles. Hybrid cars and alternative fuel vehicles are also becoming more popular.
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Japan and China Oil Demand
Given Japan’s tiny domestic oil industry and the fact that the Land of the Rising Sun is the world’s third-largest consumer of oil, Japan imports oil supplies in excess of its daily consumption rate in order to build up its reserves.
In contrast, China produces about 3.7 million barrels of oil daily with active exploration programs in the People’s Republic. China supplies nearly all of its national oil to fuel its own economy, with very little oil exports shipped to other countries. In fact, large Chinese oil companies have bought oil properties around the world including projects in Canada’s oil sands as a way to increase energy supplies flowing into China.
European Oil Demand
In total, European Union countries lead the world by importing about 18 million barrels of oil each day. However, no single European nation comes close to matching American demand for foreign oil. Germany’s oil imports amount to less than a quarter of international fuel shipments to the U.S.
Even though Germany is a leader in developing alternative energy sources like wind and solar power, Deutschland remains heavily dependent on imported oil. The world’s leading exporter depends on oil to make leading luxury automotive brands including Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche.
Rising oil and gas prices pose a double-whammy for German manufacturers. Sales for German precision-engineered products are falling about 10% as fuel costs go up.
South Korea, India and Singapore Oil Demand
These three Asian countries also depend on imported oil, delivered principally via ocean-traversing oil tankers. Countries which import oil via pipeline enjoy cost advantages over South Korea, India and Singapore. Those three nations incur significant expenses both in the initial shipment of imported oil and in subsequent deliveries of oil to customers via truck or railway.
Consumers Pay for Higher Oil Prices
Manufacturers are the first payers for more highly priced oil imports, followed by transportation companies including truck and railways who have to pay more for fuel themselves in order to deliver oil supplies within the importing country.
Both oil-using manufacturers and fuel-burning transportation companies have to then gross up their own prices with surcharges for more costly oil. Those charges eventually get passed onto consumers in the countries most dependent on oil imports. Manufacturing exports from these countries will cost more even to consumers in countries self-sufficient in oil.
