U.S. crude prices were currently relatively low, while the move to increase oil exports is also in accordance with Washington's target to reduce the trade deficit between China and the U.S., Lin said.
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry called for more energy cooperation with China during a visit to Beijing in June.
Expanding crude exports also means more jobs in the U.S., said Ray Perryman, president of the consulting firm Perryman Group. He was quoted by the New York Times estimating that the expanded crude exports could add over 480,000 jobs nationally over the next couple of decades, nearly 60 percent of which will be in Texas, even if oil prices remain moderate to low.
Xiamen University's Lin said the U.S. currently accounts for a small percentage of China's oil imports, with Russia, Saudi Arabia and Angola still its top crude suppliers.
However, as China keeps seeking to diversify its oil and gas suppliers－with its own oil fields becoming less productive and geopolitical worries posing a threat to disrupt supplies from the Middle East－he was optimistic about future U.S.-China oil cooperation.
