US crude exports hit decade high

The United States exported 268,000 barrels of crude oil per day in April, the highest level in 15 years, according to a federal report.

Most of the exported crude came from the Gulf of Mexico and almost all of it was delivered to Canada, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Department of Energy's statistical arm, said in the report released Monday.

Although the U.S. government largely forbids crude exports, there are exceptions for some California crude, Alaskan oil and shipments to Canada.

Gasoline and other refined products can be freely sold overseas.

Exports have increased sharply since the start of last year and have exceeded 200,000 barrels per day in five of the past six months.

The increase is largely due to rising U.S. crude production. According to the EIA, the nation pumped an average of 7.84 million barrels of crude oil per day at the end of last year, more than 10 percent of total world production.

As a consequence, oil companies are now urging the federal government to ease the ban on crude exports.

Since 2007, the United States has seen a dynamic transformation in oil and gas development, spurred by hydraulic fracturing of dense rock formations, a new technology used in drilling shale wells.

As its shale production outpaces domestic demand, the country is expected to shift from a net importer to a net exporter by 2020.

On an aggregate supply-demand basis, the country is rapidly approaching a self-sufficiency rate of 90 percent.

The International Energy Agency said last November the United States was expected to become the world's top oil producer by 2015, surpassing the likes of Russia and Saudi Arabia.