U.S. oil producers sent a record 7 million barrels of crude out into the world market last week, at a time when OPEC members have cut back on their own output by nearly the same amount.
Analysts say it makes sense that U.S. crude slipped into the market void created by OPEC. It may also be a glimpse into the future where the U.S. and its shale production becomes a more significant player in the world export market. The 1 million barrels a day is nearly double the week-earlier level.
"We're raising our output and it has more than a parochial impact. It's not so much that it makes the U.S. inventories unwieldy. It's that it adds to the global inventory," said Tom Kloza, head of global energy research at Oil Price Information Service. "That really is the concern in the global oil market. We tend to import the medium and heavy [grades of crude]. I'm sure most of the exports are light sweet oil."
Patti Domm | CNBC