U.S. crude oil exports hit a new high of 3 million barrels a day last week, shipping out more than a quarter of the nation's record volumes of oil production.
Crude oil prices continued surging Wednesday, driven in part by falling petroleum stockpiles. One key reason for the inventories dip is the uptick in exports.
Led by West Texas' booming Permian Basin, the U.S. is producing oil at a record high of 10.9 million barrels a day, according to the U.S. Energy Department, and companies are increasingly shipping more of those supplies to foreign markets.
Congress lifted the nation's decades-old crude export ban at the end of 2015. After a slow start during the oil bust, export volumes picked up last year and started routinely hitting at least 2 million barrels a day by the end of last year.
That pace has continued this year, reaching 3 million barrels a day for the first time as 2018 nears its mid-point.
It's not just the lighter grades of crude from Texas shale shipping out. There's also a growing international appetite for thicker, sour grades produced in the Gulf of Mexico, especially in Asia.
Most of those exports are coming from port hubs in the Houston Ship Channel and Corpus Christi. It's no coincidence that last week saw the first docking of a Very Large Crude Carrier vessel in Texas City.