US exporting more oil to Mexico than it imports

Fuel Fix:

The U.S. sent more crude oil and petroleum products to Mexico than it received for the first time in at least two decades in July, according to the latest government data.

The switch from net importer to net exporter underlines a new reality for oil markets: After decades of sourcing oil from south of the border, the U.S., and especially Texas, has plenty of oil. Simultaneously, Mexican production has declined even as the country’s need for oil and the products that come from it have risen.

U.S. net imports of oil and petroleum products from Mexico peaked in June of 2006 at 1.6 million barrels per day. In July, the U.S. sent net exports of about 48,000 barrels per day to Mexico.

Mexico’s oil production has tapered off recently from about 3.5 million barrels per day in 2008 to roughly 2.3 million barrels per day this year. The country has launched a massive reform intended to reverse the decline, but any production boost from private investment remains years away.

In addition to declining Mexican production, stepped up production from Canada has made it harder for Mexican oil to find a home in U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast.
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Some of the trade involves swaps.  I suspect one of the reasons this is economic for the US is because the Jones Act makes it more expensive to transport US oil to other coastal areas of the US than to transport Mexican oil.  Another reason for the swaps would be refineries in some areas are set up for the heavy crude like that from Mexico instead of the light crude from Texas.

I wonder if Donald Trump, who has been critical of trade with Mexico is aware that the US is now a net exporter of oil to that country.