Crude oil exported from the US rose to the highest level in 15 years this April, new statistics reveal.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US exported 268,000 barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil during that month.

Exports have “increased sharply” since the start of 2013 and have exceeded 200,000 b/d in five of the past six months, it said.

Almost all of the exported crude oil was delivered to Canada, with the most recent rise from the US Gulf Coast. Exports from the area averaged 134,000 b/d in the first quarter of this year, a 283% rise over last year’s record high of 35,000 b/d.

“The increase in crude exports is largely the result of rising US crude production, which was 8.2 million b/d in March”, the EIA said.