Crude oil was the world’s number one export product in 2019, outpacing exports of cars in second place. Electronic integrated circuits ranked as the third-most valuable exported commodity on the planet ahead of refined petroleum oils.
As a group, Middle Eastern countries sold an estimated $383.6 billion worth of globally exported crude oil or 38.2% of international sales for all commodities during 2019.
Geographically, $443.1 billion worth of unprocessed petroleum oil came from countries in Asia (44.1%). Suppliers in Europe supplied 19% of the overall total, followed by North America at 15.5% and African nations at 14.5%. Smaller percentages came from Latin America (6.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.8%) led by Australia.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for crude oil is 2709.
Crude Oil Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of crude oil during 2019.
- Saudi Arabia: US$133.6 billion (13.3% of exported crude oil)
- Russia: $121.4 billion (12.1%)
- Iraq: $83.3 billion (8.3%)
- Canada: $68.1 billion (6.8%)
- United Arab Emirates: $66.1 billion (6.6%)
- United States: $65.3 billion (6.5%)
- Kuwait: $42 billion (4.2%)
- Nigeria: $41 billion (4.1%)
- Kazakhstan: $33.6 billion (3.3%)
- Angola: $32.3 billion (3.2%)
- Norway: $28.8 billion (2.9%)
- Libya: $24.8 billion (2.5%)
- Brazil: $24 billion (2.4%)
- United Kingdom: $23.7 billion (2.4%)
- Mexico: $22.6 billion (2.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 86.7% of globally exported crude oil in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of crude oil since 2015 were: United States (up 640.5%), Libya (up 267.9%), United Arab Emirates (up 109.4%) and Brazil (up 103.7%).
Angola is the sole major supplier to post a drop in its international sales of crude oil thanks to a -26.4% reduction over the 5-year period.
Please note that the published statistics for Saudi Arabia are strictly estimates, given constraints on source data from that jurisdiction.
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for crude oil during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s crude oil exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Russia: US$121.4 billion (net export surplus up 42% since 2015)
- Iraq: $83.3 billion (up 56.6%)
- United Arab Emirates: $64.8 billion (up 105.6%)
- Canada: $53.8 billion (up 44.9%)
- Kuwait: $42 billion (up 22.9%)
- Nigeria: $41 billion (up 19.3%)
- Kazakhstan: $33.6 billion (up 25.4%)
- Angola: $32.3 billion (down -21.6%)
- Norway: $27.3 billion (up 9%)
- Libya: $24.8 billion (up 267.9%)
- Mexico: $22.5 billion (up 20.3%)
- Oman: $19.9 billion (up 14%)
- Brazil: $19.4 billion (up 339.7%)
- Qatar: $18.3 billion (up 72.5%)
- Algeria: $14.8 billion (up 24.4%)
Due to lack of credible data, Saudi Arabia has been omitted from the above list. Based on that methodology, the Russian Federation generated the highest surplus in the international trade of crude oil in 2019. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Russia’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for crude oil during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s crude oil import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- China: -US$238.3 billion (net export deficit up 79.5% since 2015)
- India: -$102.3 billion (up 41.4%)
- Japan: -$73.1 billion (up 8.5%)
- South Korea: -$70.2 billion (up 27.3%)
- United States: -$67 billion (down -45.8%)
- Germany: -$40.7 billion (up 11.5%)
- Netherlands: -$33.2 billion (up 24.8%)
- Spain: -$29.8 billion (up 25.5%)
- Italy: -$29.6 billion (up 25.9%)
- France: -$24.4 billion (up 7.1%)
- Singapore: -$24.2 billion (up 33.2%)
- Thailand: -$21.6 billion (up 11.8%)
- Taiwan: -$21.3 billion (up 32.7%)
- Belgium: -$18 billion (up 35.2%)
- Poland: -$11.9 billion (up 21.4%)
The People’s Republic of China incurred the highest amount of red ink trading crude oil on international markets in 2019. That negative cashflow highlights China’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category. The other side of the coin is that these deficits signal opportunities for crude oil-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand, and also for entrepreneurs who develop alternative energy sources that can power industrial economies.
Companies
Crude Oil Exporting Companies
Based on the Forbes Global 2000 rankings, the following oil and gas companies are among the top 100 largest companies in the world.
- Exxon Mobil (United States)
- PetroChina (China)
- Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands)
- BP (United Kingdom)
- Chevron (United States)
- Gazprom (Russia)
- Total (France)
- Sinopec-China Petroleum (China)
- Petrobras (Brazil)
- Rosneft (Russia)
- Eni (Italy)
- Statoil (Norway)
- ConocoPhillips (United States)
- LukOil (Russia)
The above corporations are presented in the same order as they appear in Forbes listings. Shown within parentheses is the country where each conglomerate has its headquarters.
Searchable List of Crude Oil Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means 2018 data was unavailable.
| Rank | Exporter | Crude Oil Exports (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Saudi Arabia | $133,640,000,000 | +0.01% |
| 2. | Russia | $121,443,990,000 | -5.9% |
| 3. | Iraq | $83,341,284,000 | -9.8% |
| 4. | Canada | $68,066,116,000 | +1.7% |
| 5. | United Arab Emirates | $66,092,938,000 | +13.1% |
| 6. | United States | $65,323,191,000 | +35.4% |
| 7. | Kuwait | $41,954,848,000 | -18.9% |
| 8. | Nigeria | $41,045,144,000 | -5.8% |
| 9. | Kazakhstan | $33,563,062,000 | -11.2% |
| 10. | Angola | $32,346,025,000 | -11.5% |
| 11. | Norway | $28,831,470,000 | -13.4% |
| 12. | Libya | $24,844,125,000 | -7.4% |
| 13. | Brazil | $24,002,334,000 | -4.5% |
| 14. | United Kingdom | $23,705,066,000 | -14.2% |
| 15. | Mexico | $22,552,194,000 | -14.9% |
| 16. | Oman | $19,864,602,000 | -1.2% |
| 17. | Qatar | $18,293,523,000 | +32.5% |
| 18. | Azerbaijan | $14,814,133,000 | -5.7% |
| 19. | Algeria | $14,777,044,000 | -16.7% |
| 20. | Venezuela | $13,813,194,000 | -47.8% |
| 21. | Iran | $13,801,503,000 | -72.8% |
| 22. | Netherlands | $13,206,845,000 | +2% |
| 23. | Colombia | $12,390,692,000 | -9.4% |
| 24. | Ecuador | $7,731,163,000 | -1.6% |
| 25. | Congo | $7,243,620,000 | -6.6% |
| 26. | Malaysia | $7,030,383,000 | -25.6% |
| 27. | Australia | $6,466,832,000 | +8.8% |
| 28. | Gabon | $4,870,332,000 | +20.3% |
| 29. | Egypt | $4,767,708,000 | +122.1% |
| 30. | Ghana | $4,311,862,000 | -17% |
| 31. | Equatorial Guinea | $3,329,545,000 | -18.5% |
| 32. | Brunei Darussalam | $2,704,983,000 | +1.2% |
| 33. | Cameroon | $2,143,291,000 | +23.7% |
| 34. | Indonesia | $2,125,410,000 | -58.5% |
| 35. | Vietnam | $1,924,373,000 | -10.4% |
| 36. | South Sudan | $1,548,628,000 | -2.5% |
| 37. | Argentina | $1,483,367,000 | -1.8% |
| 38. | Trinidad/Tobago | $1,280,005,000 | +72.4% |
| 39. | Denmark | $1,168,426,000 | -6.2% |
| 40. | Yemen | $1,060,342,000 | +10% |
| 41. | Chad | $935,999,000 | -38.6% |
| 42. | Sudan | $860,916,000 | -20.9% |
| 43. | Belgium | $822,195,000 | -19.6% |
| 44. | Ivory Coast | $794,166,000 | +12.4% |
| 45. | Bahrain | $763,110,000 | 0% |
| 46. | Tunisia | $730,481,000 | +16.3% |
| 47. | Spain | $675,684,000 | -12% |
| 48. | Thailand | $662,120,000 | -19% |
| 49. | Papua New Guinea | $627,125,000 | -17.4% |
| 50. | Democr. Rep. Congo | $528,899,000 | +19.7% |
| 51. | New Zealand | $450,899,000 | +32.4% |
| 52. | China | $361,785,000 | -71.5% |
| 53. | Turkmenistan | $326,654,000 | +197% |
| 54. | Mongolia | $305,740,000 | -22% |
| 55. | Albania | $213,757,000 | 0% |
| 56. | Togo | $202,623,000 | +45.6% |
| 57. | Philippines | $170,086,000 | -16.1% |
| 58. | Pakistan | $131,646,000 | -50.1% |
| 59. | Peru | $121,953,000 | -12.2% |
| 60. | Poland | $113,556,000 | -10% |
| 61. | Guatemala | $104,489,000 | -16.5% |
| 62. | Greece | $75,232,000 | +22.9% |
| 63. | Croatia | $61,151,000 | +226,385% |
| 64. | Timor-Leste | $60,954,000 | +39.3% |
| 65. | Sweden | $56,048,000 | +169,742% |
| 66. | Myanmar (Burma) | $50,586,000 | -15% |
| 67. | Hungary | $48,857,000 | -51.1% |
| 68. | Italy | $44,927,000 | -86.2% |
| 69. | Panama | $44,917,000 | +0.6% |
| 70. | Liberia | $43,333,000 | -79.9% |
| 71. | Germany | $42,794,000 | +74.9% |
| 72. | France | $38,916,000 | +1,498% |
| 73. | Slovakia | $37,322,000 | +1,292% |
| 74. | Guinea | $30,379,000 | +884.4% |
| 75. | Saint Lucia | $25,155,000 | +25% |
| 76. | Lithuania | $17,554,000 | -28.1% |
| 77. | Kyrgyzstan | $16,183,000 | -6.2% |
| 78. | Senegal | $16,012,000 | -36.2% |
| 79. | Barbados | $15,100,000 | +36% |
| 80. | Romania | $13,475,000 | +82.3% |
| 81. | Belize | $10,162,000 | -17.5% |
| 82. | Israel | $7,163,000 | +268.3% |
| 83. | Latvia | $3,544,000 | -17.5% |
| 84. | South Africa | $794,000 | +309.3% |
| 85. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $343,000 | 0% |
| 86. | Serbia | $270,000 | -28% |
| 87. | Finland | $244,000 | +771.4% |
| 88. | Moldova | $217,000 | +486.5% |
| 89. | Czech Republic | $169,000 | -98.5% |
| 90. | Estonia | $128,000 | -83.1% |
| 91. | Namibia | $54,000 | -94.5% |
| 92. | Bulgaria | $51,000 | -88.4% |
| 93. | Slovenia | $48,000 | -57.1% |
| 94. | Singapore | $15,000 | -100% |
| 95. | Ireland | $9,000 | +350% |
| 96. | El Salvador | $7,000 | 0% |
| 97. | South Korea | $6,000 | +100% |
| 98. | Eswatini | $5,000 | -28.6% |
| 99. | Switzerland | $4,000 | -77.8% |
| 100. | Portugal | $4,000 | 0% |
| 101. | Malawi | $2,000 | 0% |
| 102. | Bolivia | $2,000 | -100% |
| 103. | Tanzania | $1,000 | -100% |
See also US Crude Oil Imports by Supplier Countries, Iron Ore Exports by Country, Crude Oil Imports by Country and Largest Oil and Gas Export Companies
Research Sources:
Forbes 2019 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 9, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 9, 2020
The World Factbook, Field Listing: Exports – Commodities, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on June 9, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 9, 2020
Wikipedia, Big Oil. Accessed on June 9, 2020