According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the removal of restrictions on exporting US crude oil in December 2015 has enabled to boost crude oil exports, especially to new markets (the United States exported crude oil to Canada without restrictions).
Between 2000 and 2013, US crude exports rarely exceeded 100,000 bbl/d, but exports rose in 2014 and 2015, reaching 422,000 bbl/d to Canada in 2015 and 26,000 bbl/d to five other countries. In the first five months of 2016, US crude oil exports soared by 9% compared the full-year 2015 daily average of 501,000 bbl/d and were directed to 16 different countries. Curação was the main importer of US crude oil (Curação refinery is operated by Venezuela's PDVSA) with average imports of 54,000 bbl/d over the January-May 2016 period), followed by the Netherlands (39,000 bbl/d), Japan (17,000 bbl/d) and Italy (15,000 bbl/d). In March and May 2016, exports to countries other than Canada have even surpassed exports to Canada.