America’s Days as Net Oil Exporter Are Numbered Amid Price Rout

  • Shale drillers face million-barrel drop this year: BNEF
  • U.S. refiners may favor foreign barrels as Saudis cut prices
Photographer: Eddie Seal/Bloomberg
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America’s nascent status as a net petroleum exporter is already at risk as plunging oil prices threaten domestic production and give a leg-up to world’s biggest producers.

The U.S. only in recent months began exporting more petroleum than it imports, a shift fueled by record shale production in fields such as the Permian Basin. Now, amid the worst price rout in nearly three decades, American drillers are facing a million-barrel dropBloomberg Terminal in production that could curb U.S. exports and set back the country’s march toward energy independence.