Of particular interest was this excerpt:
The lower deficit was driven by a marked change in the usual flow of petroleum. The U.S. exported a record $11.6 billion in petroleum products, but crude imports by the barrel tumbled to the smallest amount since 1997.
The U.S. still imported far more petroleum than it exported, but the gap, at $18.7 billion, fell to the lowest level since summer 2009.
What’s unclear is whether the change in petroleum flows in December is an aberration or the hint of a developing long-term trend. The U.S. is becoming an even bigger producer of crude and refined oil as a result of new technologies that allow companies to extract previously inaccessible fuel from large rock formations, a process known as fracking.
The U.S. has also become more efficient in its use of fuel, as reflected by the growing sales of hybrid vehicles and automobiles that get better gas mileage.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-trade-deficit-sinks-21-to-385-billion-2013-02-08
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