Schumer's claim that only one percent of the oil imported to the U.S. is from Russia is not correct

A growing number of U.S. senators in both parties are showing support for the "Banning Russian Energy Imports Act," a law that would restrict the purchasing of oil from Russia as a way to punish them for the assault against Ukraine. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin are leading this effort. Such a move would likely send gasoline prices to rise even more in the U.S., making it a politically risky move for Pres. Biden, who is already grappling with rising inflation. 

Shortly before President Joe Biden’s 2022 State of the Union Address, Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke at a press conference. During the question and answer period, a reporter asked Schumer, “What do you make of Senator Manchin’s proposal to have more domestic oil production?” Schumer answered, "the U.S. is a major oil producer; we only get one percent of any imports from Russia.” We find this claim to be mostly false. While the U.S. is a major oil producer (the United States has been a top oil-producing country for years), it still buys crude oil and oil products from Russia.  The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports Russian imports accounted for 8 percent of all U.S. oil imports from June 2021 until November 2021. This number includes crude oil AND petroleum products, such as unfinished fuel oil that can be used as a feedstock to produce gasoline and diesel. If you were only counting crude oil by barrel, then Schumer would be more in the ballpark (at about 3%²). In fact, Russian-produced oil accounts for about one percent of total crude oil processed by U.S. refineries. According to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) trade association, imports of Russian crude oil have increased since 2019, when the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry. US refiners (particularly in the Western states¹) also temporarily boosted Russian imports last year after Hurricane Ida disrupted oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. 

As reported by Scott Wong and Julie Tsirkin at NBC News...

The U.S. and its European allies buy about $700 million worth of oil every day from Russia. The U.S. alone imports about 670,000 barrels of crude oil and petroleum products each day from Russia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Of course, the importing of crude oil to the U.S. fluctuates considerably on a month-to-month basis. Economics Professor Christiane Baumeister at the University of Notre Dame, has this to say...

According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the share of Russian imports of total crude oil into the US was 1.4% in December 2021, the latest available observation. However, for 2021 the average import share from Russia was 3.2% with a maximum of 5% in August 2021 and a minimum of 0.9% in February 2021. The import share tends to fluctuate considerably on a month-to-month basis. Over the entire period 1995-2021, the Russian import share has fluctuated between 0% and 5% reaching its highest value ever in August of 2021. However, the US does not only import crude oil from Russia but also petroleum products including gasoline and distillates such as diesel fuel and heating oil, among others. In 2020, the top five sources of U.S. total petroleum (including crude oil) imports by share of total petroleum imports were Canada (52%), Mexico (11%), Russia (7%), Saudi Arabia (7%), and Colombia (4%). The average share of total petroleum imports from Russia has risen to 8% in 2021.

1 https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-does-the-u-s-still-buy-russian-oil-11646151935

2 https://www.afpm.org/sites/default/files/issue_resources/U.S.%20Imports%20of%20Oil%20%26%20Petroleum%20from%20Russia.pdf