Record-setting U.S.-Mexico energy trade reached $81.9B in 2022

The energy trade between the United States and Mexico reached a record level last year due to high commodity prices, leaving the combined value of energy imports and exports between the pair at $81.9 billion.

These figures could be broken down into three areas: crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas. The natural gas trade was the only one of these with any sense of downward trend, given that exports to Mexico fell 4 percent on average year-over-year, to 5.7 billion cubic feet per day in 2022. However, the higher pricing meant that the trade value declined only 1.5 percent from 2021.

In terms of crude oil, the U.S. imported more from Mexico and paid more per barrel in 2022 than in 2021. Those imports averaged 536,000 barrels per day – a 9 percent increase. With prices having shot up about $26 per barrel, reaching $103 on average according to the Brent crude oil spot price. Factoring in both the higher prices and the volumetric increase, overall the value of U.S. crude oil imports from Mexico increased 47 percent, to $20.7 billion of value.

While no crude oil was exported to Mexico, on the petroleum side of the equation, Mexico reigned as the largest export market for U.S. producers. Exports to Mexico averaged 1.7 million barrels per day last year, a 33 percent increase compared to 2021 pushing Mexico to account for nearly 20 percent of all U.S. petroleum product exports in 2022. Total, this put the petroleum trade value at $44.2 billion, up from $33.5 billion the previous year.

This marked the second year in a row that U.S. energy exports to Mexico reached record annual highs, reaching $55.8 billion overall. The previous high, set in 2021, was $45.4 billion. Such records stretch back to 1996, when the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting energy value data.