London (Platts)--29Jan2010/111 pm EST/1811 GMT

Saudi Arabian crude exports to the United States fell to 837,000 b/d in November from 938,000 b/d in October, an apparent continuation of a trend that saw volumes from the kingdom dip to a 22-year low of 745,000 b/d last August, official US data released late Thursday show.

The 101,000 b/d month-on-month drop put Saudi Arabia in fourth place among the US' top suppliers, behind Canada, Mexico and Nigeria, but ahead of Venezuela.

For the January-November period of 2009, the EIA figures show crude imports from Saudi Arabia averaging around 998,500 b/d.

A further month-on-month fall in December could result in 2009 volumes from the kingdom being the lowest on an annual basis since the late 1980s, when imports of Saudi crude--at that time on an increasing trend--averaged 911,000 b/d in 1988 and 1.116 million b/d in 1989. Annual volumes have been above these levels since then, averaging 1.503 million b/d in 2008.

Platts calculates that crude imports from Saudi Arabia would have to average at least 1.015 million b/d in December to prevent the country's crude exports to the US slipping below 1 million b/d on an annual basis for the first time since 1988.

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BIG SWINGS

In percentage terms, EIA data shows big swings in Saudi Arabia's share of US crude imports over the years.

The kingdom's share has mostly been well into double digits, though it fell below 10% in 1983, 1984 and 1985--when Riyadh adopted the role of "swing producer"--to 9.64%, 9.02% and 4.12% respectively.

But it has been as high as 29.45% in 1991, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and subsequent torching of the emirate's oil fields, when Riyadh opened the taps on production. In that year, Saudi Arabia provided 1.703 million b/d of the 5.782 million b/d total volume of crude imported by the US.

Although total US crude imports have climbed over the years, averaging more than 10 million b/d in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, Saudi Arabia's share of these volumes has fallen back as Riyadh has focused increasingly on Asian markets.

Between 2004 and 2007, the kingdom's share was between 14% and 15%. In 2008--when oil prices soared to all-time highs of more than $147/barrel--it climbed to 15.36%.

But the EIA data show that over the first 11 months of this year, Saudi Arabia's share of US imports averaged just 10.92%.

The EIA said the top five suppliers accounted for 63% of the 8.709 million b/d of crude imported by the US in November, while the top 10 sources--including Iraq, Angola, Kuwait, Brazil and Algeria--accounted for about 82%.

Canada, holding onto the top slot, supplied 1.984 million b/d in November, up from 1.858 million b/d in October. Mexican volumes fell to 948,000 b/d from 1.015 million b/d. Nigeria boosted its volumes to 948,000 b/d from 853,000 b/d. Venezuelan volumes dropped to 809,000 b/d from 879,000 b/d.

The EIA is the statistics arm of the US Department of Energy.

--Margaret McQuaile, margaret_mcquaile@platts.com