US sends first shipment of crude to Saudi Arabia in over a decade

The United States sent a shipment of crude to Saudi Arabia in June, data from the US Census Bureau showed on Wednesday, in what appears to be the first such delivery since the US ban on crude exports ended in 2015.

The United States shipped about 550,000 barrels, or 18,300 barrels per day (bpd), of crude to Saudi Arabia in June, US Census data shows. The US Energy Information Administration has no recorded instances of a US crude shipment to Saudi Arabia.

US Census data shows a miniscule 1,000-barrel shipment to Saudi Arabia in 2002. That was during the four-decade ban on exports.