(Adds background on export ban, table)
NEW YORK, June 3 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil exports rose to
a record 591,000 barrels per day in April compared with 508,000
bpd in March, foreign trade data from the U.S. Census Bureau
showed on Friday.
Exports to Canada were 324,000 bpd, while exports to Curacao
reached 90,000 bpd. Exports to Bahamas were 36,000 bpd. In
total, exports were the highest on record since at least 1920,
according to U.S. government data.
The record level of exports come some half a year after a
decades-long ban on U.S. exports was lifted. Since then, a
number of merchants traders, producers and even refiners have
moved crude to Latin America, Europe and Asia, among other
locations.
U.S. Census' foreign trade oil data is published weeks
earlier than closely watched U.S. Energy Information
Administration trade figures. The EIA, which bases its numbers
on the Census data, will release its monthly crude figures at
the end of the month.
Export countries April March
Canada 324,000 249,000
Bahamas 35,800 -
China 16,700 -
Curacao 89,900 75,300
Italy - 33,100
Israel - 24,800
Japan - 43,900
France 18,200 -
Marshall Islands 18,600 49,200
Netherlands 29,300 20,200
Nicaragua - 12,300
Panama 25,800 -
Switzerland 14,700 -
United Kingdom 18,100 -
World Total 591,200 507,800
*Data in barrels per day compiled by Reuters from U.S. Census
Bureau