That dollar amount results from a 52.5% increase compared to $845.5 billion worth of crude oil exports five years earlier during 2019.
Year over year, the value of the world’s exports of crude oil flatlined via a 1.1% gain from $1.276 trillion in 2022.
Crude oil ranks as the world’s most valuable exported product for 2023, ahead of exports of refined petroleum oils, electronic integrated circuits and related parts, then cars.
Crude petroleum oils represent 5.5% of the overall total for all exported commodities during 2023, down from 5.6% in 2022.
The top 5 exporters of crude oil in 2023 were Saudi Arabia, Russia, United States of America, United Arab Emirates then Canada. Combined, those 5 major crude oil sources supplied just over one-half (50.8%) of global exports for crude petroleum oil.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for crude oil is 2709.
Crude Oil Exports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of crude oil during 2023.
- Saudi Arabia: US$210.6 billion (16.3% of exported crude oil)
- Russia: $117.2 billion (9.1%)
- United States: $117.2 billion (9.1%)
- United Arab Emirates: $111 billion (8.6%)
- Canada: $99.6 billion (7.7%)
- Iraq: $99.5 billion (7.7%)
- Norway: $50.2 billion (3.9%)
- Nigeria: $48.9 billion (3.8%)
- Kuwait: $42.7 billion (3.3%)
- Brazil: $42.6 billion (3.3%)
- Kazakhstan: $42.3 billion (3.3%)
- Angola: $32.7 billion (2.5%)
- Libya: $30.4 billion (2.4%)
- Oman: $29.6 billion (2.3%)
- Mexico: $27.6 billion (2.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries sold 85.5% of globally exported crude oil in 2023.
Among the top exporters, the sole growth exporter of crude oil since 2022 was the United States of America via its modest 0.1% upturn.
Those countries that posted declines in their international sales of crude oil were led by: Kuwait (down -37.2% from 2022), United Arab Emirates (down -28.2%), Russia (down -20.6%), Angola (down -18.9%) and Iraq (down -17.3%).
Biggest Surpluses Trading Crude Oil
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for crude oil during 2023. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s crude oil exports and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Saudi Arabia: US$210.6 billion (net export surplus down -20.6% since 2022)
- Russia: $117.2 billion (down -20.6%)
- United Arab Emirates: $110.7 billion (down -27%)
- Iraq: $99.5 billion (down -17.3%)
- Canada: $85.1 billion (down -17.7%)
- Norway: $49 billion (down -14.4%)
- Nigeria: $48.9 billion (down -1.9%)
- Kuwait: $42.7 billion (down -37.2%)
- Kazakhstan: $42.3 billion (down -9.8%)
- Brazil: $33.6 billion (up 2.4%)
- Angola: $32.7 billion (down -18.9%)
- Libya: $30.4 billion (down -9.9%)
- Oman: $29.6 billion (down -2.3%)
- Mexico: $27.6 billion (down -12.7%)
- Qatar: $22.9 billion (up 22.8%)
Reflecting its independence from imported crude oil, Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation generated the highest surpluses in the international trade of crude petroleum oils in 2023. In turn, these positive cashflows confirm both countries’ strong competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Worst Deficits Trading Crude Oil
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for crude oil during 2023. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s crude oil import purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- mainland China: -US$335.6 billion (net export deficit down -7.8% since 2022)
- India: -$140.1 billion (down -19.3%)
- South Korea: -$86.2 billion (down -18.7%)
- Japan: -$81.1 billion (down -20.2%)
- United States of America: -$55.3 billion (down -37%)
- Germany: -$45.5 billion (down -27.8%)
- Netherlands: -$38 billion (down -23.5%)
- Italy: -$37.7 billion (down -15.2%)
- Spain: -$35.7 billion (down -24.2%)
- Thailand: -$34.2 billion (down -11.5%)
- France: -$31.2 billion (down -10.5%)
- Singapore: -$27.4 billion (down -19.3%)
- Taiwan: -$25.1 billion (down -19.3%)
- Belgium: -$22.2 billion (down -8.1%)
- Poland: -$15.2 billion (down -7.8%)
Four large Asian economies, mainland China, India, South Korea and Japan incurred the highest amounts of red ink trading crude oil on international markets in 2023. That negative cashflow highlights both countries’ strong competitive disadvantages for this specific product category. The other side of the coin is that these deficits signal opportunities for crude oil-supplying countries that help satisfy their powerful demand, and also for entrepreneurs who develop alternative energy sources that can power industrial economies.
Crude Oil Exporting Companies
Based on the Forbes Global 2000 rankings, the following oil and gas companies are among the top 100 largest companies in the world.
- BP (United Kingdom)
- Chevron (United States)
- ConocoPhillips (United States)
- Eni (Italy)
- Exxon Mobil (United States)
- Gazprom (Russia)
- LukOil (Russia)
- Petrobras (Brazil)
- PetroChina (China)
- Rosneft (Russia)
- Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands)
- Sinopec-China Petroleum (China)
- Statoil (Norway)
- Total (France)
The above corporations are presented in the same order as they appear in Forbes listings. Shown within parentheses is the country where each conglomerate has its headquarters.
Searchable List of Crude Oil Exporting Countries in 2023
The 100 exporters in the database below were responsible for virtually 100% of all crude oil shipped in 2023.
| Rank | Exporter | Crude Oil Exports (US$) | 2022-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Saudi Arabia | $210,632,117,000 | -6.3% |
| 2. | Russia | $117,248,939,000 | -20.6% |
| 3. | United States | $117,160,521,000 | +0.1% |
| 4. | United Arab Emirates | $110,965,544,000 | -28.2% |
| 5. | Canada | $99,604,635,000 | -16.9% |
| 6. | Iraq | $99,464,145,000 | -17.3% |
| 7. | Norway | $50,243,588,000 | -13% |
| 8. | Nigeria | $48,909,518,000 | -1.9% |
| 9. | Kuwait | $42,713,774,000 | -37.2% |
| 10. | Brazil | $42,611,149,000 | -0.2% |
| 11. | Kazakhstan | $42,314,945,000 | -9.8% |
| 12. | Angola | $32,703,349,000 | -18.9% |
| 13. | Libya | $30,416,696,000 | -9.9% |
| 14. | Oman | $29,612,287,000 | -2.3% |
| 15. | Mexico | $27,604,232,000 | -12.7% |
| 16. | Qatar | $22,886,393,000 | +22.2% |
| 17. | United Kingdom | $20,837,958,000 | -2% |
| 18. | Netherlands | $17,125,314,000 | +89.8% |
| 19. | Azerbaijan | $16,240,830,000 | -16.6% |
| 20. | Algeria | $16,010,865,000 | -14% |
| 21. | Colombia | $12,434,660,000 | -23.2% |
| 22. | Australia | $7,846,916,000 | -22.5% |
| 23. | Ecuador | $7,823,367,000 | -27.8% |
| 24. | Guyana | $7,170,113,000 | +67.7% |
| 25. | Malaysia | $7,010,006,000 | -11.8% |
| 26. | Congo | $6,709,868,000 | +0.6% |
| 27. | Gabon | $4,799,382,000 | -14.4% |
| 28. | Venezuela | $4,045,188,000 | +605.7% |
| 29. | Ghana | $3,984,855,000 | -23.2% |
| 30. | Argentina | $3,325,154,000 | +15.2% |
| 31. | Chad | $3,106,250,000 | -15.5% |
| 32. | Egypt | $2,553,063,000 | -20.3% |
| 33. | Equatorial Guinea | $2,501,171,000 | -41% |
| 34. | Cameroon | $2,420,670,000 | -17.2% |
| 35. | Brunei Darussalam | $1,814,183,000 | -16.5% |
| 36. | Vietnam | $1,783,175,000 | -16.1% |
| 37. | Indonesia | $1,750,005,000 | +11.3% |
| 38. | Trinidad/Tobago | $1,545,702,000 | -25% |
| 39. | Spain | $1,493,815,000 | +161.8% |
| 40. | Sudan | $1,142,694,000 | +60.3% |
| 41. | Belgium | $938,668,000 | -7% |
| 42. | mainland China | $843,802,000 | -41.3% |
| 43. | Tunisia | $793,987,000 | -6% |
| 44. | Italy | $721,965,000 | +48.1% |
| 45. | Papua New Guinea | $647,671,000 | -39.8% |
| 46. | Ivory Coast | $647,329,000 | -22.1% |
| 47. | South Sudan | $559,132,000 | +32.7% |
| 48. | New Zealand | $492,942,000 | -15.2% |
| 49. | Mongolia | $364,742,000 | +49.8% |
| 50. | Thailand | $358,620,000 | -29.6% |
| 51. | Turkmenistan | $335,359,000 | -24.3% |
| 52. | Croatia | $311,326,000 | -20.4% |
| 53. | Peru | $221,632,000 | -56.5% |
| 54. | Albania | $196,569,000 | 0% |
| 55. | Philippines | $169,109,000 | -47.7% |
| 56. | Hungary | $162,737,000 | +44.8% |
| 57. | Denmark | $125,074,000 | -67.7% |
| 58. | Timor-Leste | $112,783,000 | -50.1% |
| 59. | Mozambique | $104,457,000 | 0% |
| 60. | Poland | $103,486,000 | -7.8% |
| 61. | Ireland | $90,392,000 | +63.7% |
| 62. | Bahrain | $85,193,000 | 0% |
| 63. | US Minor Outlying Is | $84,163,000 | 0% |
| 64. | Niger | $83,120,000 | 0% |
| 65. | Guinea | $79,809,000 | +85.4% |
| 66. | Greece | $64,441,000 | +842.3% |
| 67. | Guatemala | $38,955,000 | -59.3% |
| 68. | France | $33,141,000 | +751.7% |
| 69. | Curaçao | $30,413,000 | 0% |
| 70. | Pakistan | $26,823,000 | -91% |
| 71. | Lithuania | $19,534,000 | +13.3% |
| 72. | Chile | $19,212,000 | -37% |
| 73. | Romania | $18,719,000 | -37.2% |
| 74. | Myanmar | $17,000,000 | 0% |
| 75. | Bolivia | $11,437,000 | +2788% |
| 76. | Barbados | $10,392,000 | -22.2% |
| 77. | Ukraine | $9,624,000 | +299% |
| 78. | Singapore | $3,931,000 | +2199% |
| 79. | Germany | $1,230,000 | -79.4% |
| 80. | Moldova | $1,054,000 | +20.2% |
| 81. | Latvia | $988,000 | -56.5% |
| 82. | Slovakia | $946,000 | -37.6% |
| 83. | Tanzania | $683,000 | -29% |
| 84. | Belize | $335,000 | -71.4% |
| 85. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $313,000 | -94.2% |
| 86. | South Africa | $287,000 | -97.7% |
| 87. | Bahamas | $140,000 | +6900% |
| 88. | Sweden | $72,000 | -66.7% |
| 89. | Marshall Islands | $71,000 | 0% |
| 90. | Namibia | $45,000 | -88.7% |
| 91. | Suriname | $35,000 | 0% |
| 92. | Slovenia | $32,000 | -30.4% |
| 93. | Zambia | $11,000 | -97.2% |
| 94. | South Korea | $7,000 | -22.2% |
| 95. | Cuba | $7,000 | 0% |
| 96. | El Salvador | $7,000 | 0% |
| 97. | Czech Republic | $5,000 | -50% |
| 98. | Kenya | $4,000 | -100% |
| 99. | Dominican Republic | $3,000 | 0% |
| 100. | Botswana | $3,000 | +50% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below.
Note that an entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2022 data was unavailable.
Expanding the scope to include the top 100 crude oil exporters, the fastest gainers were the Bahamas (up 6,900% from 2022), Bolivia (up 2,788%), Singapore (up 2,199%), Greece (up 842.3%), France (up 751.7%), Venezuela (up 605.7%) and the Ukraine (up 299%).
Year over year, the severest declines were posted by international suppliers in Kenya (down -100% from 2022), South Africa (down -97.7%), Zambia (down -97.2%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (down -94.2%) then Pakistan (down -91%).
Crude Oil Exports from OPEC Countries
In 2023, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was comprised of 13 nations united by common financial interests in exporting crude petroleum oil.
The 13 OPEC members are Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
Collectively, the 13 OPEC countries exported US$640.6 billion worth of crude oil in 2023. That dollar total translates to a 49.7% share of all globally exported crude petroleum by value.
OPEC’s percentage share decreased from a 61.1% portion one year earlier in 2022.
Focusing exclusively on exports from OPEC as an entity, the dollar value of crude oil exported from OPEC members decelerated by -17.8% compared to $779.3 billion for 2022.
See also US Crude Oil Imports by Supplier Countries, OPEC Countries Crude Oil Exports Sales Data, Crude Oil Imports by Country, Largest Oil and Gas Export Companies and Best Solar & Wind Exporters Powering International Energy Sales
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Field Listing: Exports – Commodities, The World Factbook. Accessed on June 24, 2024
Forbes 2023 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 24, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 24, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 24, 2024
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Member Countries. Accessed on June 24, 2024
Wikipedia, Big Oil. Accessed on June 24, 2024