Jacob Ford / AP
The United States is on pace to export more oil than four OPEC nations — Libya, Qatar, Ecuador and Gabon — produce combined, according to Bloomberg.
The reason is America's resilient shale oil and gas sector, which has ramped up production every time oil prices sneak high enough to make exploiting such reserves profitable.
Why not use the oil ourselves? Many U.S. refineries aren't built to handle the type of crude oil that comes from Texas' Permian Basin, where much of the new, recent production has occurred. So we export some crude oil while still importing other types.