The United States exported a record 31 quadrillion British thermal units of energy in 2025, 2% more than the prior record set in 2024, while imports fell 5% to 21 quads, the Energy Information Administration reported. That gap between more going out and less coming in pushed net exports to a record 11 quads, up 20% from the previous high a year earlier.
The headline number is really two separate stories layered together: petroleum staying near record export volumes even as the country still imports large amounts of crude for refining, and natural gas exports that have quadrupled over the past decade on the back of LNG capacity. Both trends point the same direction. The US is exporting more of what it produces and importing less of what it used to need.
Petroleum still the biggest piece
Petroleum is the largest single category in US energy trade, on both sides of the ledger. It made up 63% of total energy exports in 2025 and has held that top spot since 1999. It also accounted for 83% of total energy imports, a position it has held since at least 1949, the earliest year in the EIA's records.
That is not a contradiction. Refineries need specific crude grades to make gasoline, diesel and jet fuel efficiently, so companies import certain types of oil while exporting others, plus refined products, to buyers overseas. Total petroleum imports came to 17 quads in 2025, down 6% from 2024. Most petroleum exports went to other countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.
The Gulf Coast is the only US region that exports more petroleum than it imports, and its surplus is large enough to offset net imports everywhere else, making the country as a whole a net petroleum exporter. That concentration means the Gulf Coast's refining and export infrastructure carries outsized weight in the national trade balance.
Gas exports have quadrupled since 2015
Natural gas has been the second-largest source of both US energy exports and imports for years, but the export side has grown far faster. US natural gas exports hit a record 9 quads in 2025, 29% of total energy exports, after quadrupling since 2015 as domestic production and LNG export capacity both expanded to meet demand abroad. European buyers accounted for much of that added demand, a shift that followed Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the search for alternative gas supply.
On the import side, natural gas made up 16% of total US energy imports in 2025. Imports from Canada remain important for balancing the US market during periods of tight supply, including cold winter months when heating demand spikes faster than pipelines and storage can otherwise cover.
Why the trade balance moved
The 20% jump in net exports is the product of exports rising modestly while imports fell more sharply, not a single dramatic swing in either direction. Export growth in petroleum and gas has been underway for years; 2025's move came mostly from the import side, with petroleum imports down 6% and total imports down 5%.
For context on prices during this period, WTI crude stood at $84.65 a barrel and Henry Hub gas was $3.06 per MMBtu, both as of June 15, 2026, according to EIA data. The US rig count was 562 on the same date, per Baker Hughes.
The EIA's quads figure comes from its Monthly Energy Review, which converts different energy sources, barrels of oil, cubic feet of gas, into a common heat-based unit so they can be added together and compared directly.
