At a time when OPEC has drastically reduced production and Venezuelan exports have rarely fallen to a low level, the one-week scale of crude oil imports from the United States has reached the lowest level in 23 years.

Data released by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) last night showed that crude oil imports fell by 1.61 million barrels a day in the week of February 22, the lowest level since 1996. Among them, 346,000 barrels of crude oil were imported from Saudi Arabia per day, a record one-week low.

The data also showed that refinery capacity utilization on the East Coast of the United States dropped to 60%, the lowest since 2012.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production has increased by 100,000 barrels per day to 12.1 million barrels per day, a record one-week high. In addition, Kuxin’s crude oil stocks have reached a one-week high since December 2017.

It is worth noting that while the United States has been ramping up crude oil production, they have been pressing OPEC to cut production quotas for a long time, while sanctioning Venezuela and Iran on the other side, which has sharply reduced their exports.

Bob Dudley, BP’s chief executive, recently commented on the U.S. increase in production at the International Oil and Gas Weekly Conference in London.

The United States is probably the only country in the world that responds exclusively to output adjustments to market signals, as if it were a brainless market. Unlike Saudi Arabia and Russia, which also regulate supply in response to excess or shortage of markets, the United States responds only to price signals.

However, the Trump administration seems dissatisfied with the higher oil prices. Earlier this week, Trump again complained on Twitter about high oil prices and asked OPEC to relax its efforts to raise oil prices. “Oil prices are too high. OPEC, relax and relax. The world can’t stand the rise in oil prices – it’s still fragile! “

But this time OPEC seems to have been unaffected by Trump. Saudi Energy Minister Farleh said recently that they may prolong production cuts in the second half of the year. In addition, when asked about Trump’s tweet, Fallich responded: “We’re taking it easy.”

Some oil and gas industry leaders believe that oil prices may rise further.

Russell Hardy, chief executive of Vitol, the world’s largest energy trader, said oil prices would rise further as OPEC production cuts and U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela led to a “shortage” of heavy crude oil on which refineries depend. “In the next six months, a large supply may be squeezed. The OPEC decision means less oil to choose from, the Iranian situation means less oil to choose from, and Venezuela’s current situation is even worse.

“From now on, oil prices may have the potential to rise further. By the third quarter, the supply will be rather tight. Russell Hardy says.