Confirming their trend in April, Venezuelan crude oil exports to the United States in May climbed 50,000 bpd to an average of 1.23 million bpd, which is 63,000 bpd above May 2006.

In this way, Venezuela remained as the fourth largest oil supplier to the US, after Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico, which overall provided over 1.4 million bpd each.

Overall, the US imported 10.2 million bpd on May, a slight increase of 27,000 bpd compared to April, boosted by higher sales from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Angola, Ecuador, United Kingdom, Kuwait and Norway, primarily.

In January-May 2006, Venezuelan crude oil sales to the US averaged 1.18 million bpd. This figure tumbled 83,000 bpd (6.9 percent) in the same period this year.

Besides crude oil, Venezuelan sales of byproducts to the United States in May amounted to some 286,000 bpd, an increase a 56,000 bpd compared to the previous month. This figure, however, also represents a slight fall 15,000 bpd compared to 301,000 bpd of byproducts supplied in May 2006.

In May, Venezuela exported 1.51 million bpd of hydrocarbons to the US, which is near the historic volume of exports to the United States. This represents a growth of 106,000 bpd or 7.5 percent versus the previous month.