The United States has cemented its status as a net exporter in world oil markets — and the dominance could affect its ties to foreign allies, Financial Times reported.

The Energy Information Administration reported on Friday the United States exported 89,000 more barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products a day than it imported in September, the first full month of a positive oil trade balance since the 1940s, FT reported.

Imports exceeded exports by 12 million barrels a day a decade ago, the news outlet noted.  

Among the factors contributing to the change were surging production from shale oilfields, the end of a crude oil export ban in 2015 and fuel economy improvements for cars, FT reported.

The EIA, in its latest short-term energy outlook, forecast net oil and refined products exports likely were 550,000 barrels a day in October and would be 750,000 barrels a day on average in 2020, FT reported.  

The U.S. status would change its obligations as a member of the International Energy Agency, a body of industrialized countries formed in response to the oil shocks of the 1970s, FT reported. 

The bulk of U.S. emergency stocks are held in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on the Gulf of Mexico coast. 

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