[Cicero]

I am trying to understand the basics of oil trade, but one aspect still puzzles me: Who exactly buys oil?

More specifically, in the case of the U.S., how does most oil go from fields abroad to American consumers? Is it normally produced, transported, refined, and distributed by one company? If not, who actually buys the crude oil and brings it to the U.S.? IOCs, end users, government agencies? Most discussions of oil trade are extremely vague on this, so I guess I may just be missing something obvious here, but if anyone could explain it to me, it would be greatly appreciated.

[mekrob]

Who buys the oil? Refining or transport companies (that then sell to refiners). Refiners make it into gasoline, diesel, heating oil, etc, which is then sold to the consumers.

The US gets about 40% of our oil from abroad. The main sources are Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Nigeria.

Is it normally produced, transported, refined, and distributed by one company?

There are many companies, but most of the majors do do all of that stuff all by themselves b/c it cuts down on costs.

[Cicero]

Do you know where I could find any numbers on how much of the oil is brought in by whom? Or at least how much is refined and distributed in the U.S. by the same company that produced it abroad and how much is bought abroad by refining or transport companies? And are these the only major buyers? I assume the government buys up considerable volumes for the SPR, at least occasionally, but beyond that, does the government or any other actors besides those already mentioned contribute significantly to U.S. imports?

Basically, what I'm most interested in, is who controls the flow of oil into the U.S. Who determines where the U.S. gets its oil from? Does the government have any influence at all or is this completely laissez-faire?

Also, do the governments of oil-producing countries normally have any say over who private companies operating oil production facilities in their country sell to? I am not talking about NOCs, but IOCs operating in countries without state monopolies.