If you took a Delta Air Lines flight last year out of any Northeastern state, your plane likely contained a fair amount of fuel refined from Russian crude oil.
Likewise, for anyone who filled up a car at a local gas station supplied from Monroe Energy LLC, the Delaware County oil refinery owned by Delta.
The airline’s refinery outside Philadelphia was the nation’s largest single importer of Russian crude oil last year, buying 10.7 million barrels, or 15% of the total U.S. crude imports from Russia, according to U.S. Energy Department data analyzed by The Inquirer. PBF Energy, which operates nearby refineries in New Jersey and Delaware, also imported a significant amount of Russian crude and unfinished oils last year.
Under President Joe Biden’s March 8 ban on Russian energy imports, those refiners and dozens of other importers of Russian oil and petroleum across the nation must switch to new suppliers. However, Russian shipments already ordered are allowed to continue. Biden imposed the ban in response to growing calls from Congress to punish Russia for its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. industry can adapt
The administration and the oil industry say the ban on Russian imports will be manageable, as were previous market disruptions after the United States imposed sanctions on Iranian and Venezuelan crude. The Russian ban could contribute to rising energy costs that have caused pump prices to soar in the last year.
Russia is the world’s second-largest exporter of crude oil and a major supplier to Europe. But Russia accounted for only 3% of U.S crude imports last year.
It was a bigger exporter of petroleum products to the United States, which includes refined fuels and unfinished oils. Altogether, it accounted for 245 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum imports to the United States, or about 8% of total U.S. petroleum imports.
While American industry can adapt to the loss of Russian imports, the change in flows of crude and petroleum disrupts international…