New York (Platts)--11Mar2008

The US trade deficit in January widened by $300 million to $58.2 billion
as oil imports and costs climbed, according to data released Tuesday by the
Bureau of Economic Analysis.

US oil imports jumped to a record $84.09/barrel in January from
$82.76/barrel in December. Average oil imports increased 689,000 b/d to 10.394
million b/d in January. Total energy-related petroleum product imports rose
34.165 million barrels month-over-month.

The deficit with OPEC widened by $2.9 bil to $15.5 bil. Crude oil imports
from OPEC countries climbed to 190.213 million barrels in January from,
175.924 million barrels in December. While crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia
and Venezuela were steady, imports from Angola, Ecuador and Iraq accounted for
a good portion of the increase in oil imports from OPEC. Imports from Iraq in
particular were up 5.386 million barrels to 16.266 million barrels. Imports of
oil originating in Canada soared 6.81 million barrels to 61.314 million
barrels.

--Linda Rafield, linda_rafield@platts.com