That's about $1500000 of oil a year. It's miniscule. Probably purchased for some technical reason, to dilute for example, or due to proximity to something or other.
Proportions matter. I've eaten sushi a couple times, but I don't regularly do so. So, talking about my reducing calories in my diet, we'd say I never really eat sushi. It's technically untrue, but the proportion is what matters. I'll find where to cut calories elsewhere in things that I eat more than once a year.
If Russia provides a tiny fraction of 1% of us oil, it could be very special edge cases that don't affect the economy much at all.
Side note, HN comment guidelines state each comment should enrich discussion. This comment you made is very low effort and snarky.
Not always. We were taught if someone steal $1 or $10000 they will be called thief.
In Sushi may be proportions mattered. But there are cases it doesn't matter. Like drinking 10ml or 1 litre both can kill you. And you cannot go to doctor and said 10 liter is very small quantity ignore it.
And in this case "Crude Oil Flow from Saudi Arabia to U.S. Falls to Zero " Saying Zero might be misleading to many people. It may not to many people.
I get your point, and am generally of the mindset that technically correct is the best kind of correct.
But masscomm isn't technical writing. To the people who already don't understand, it's more misleading to pretend the amount is meaningfully more than zero, than to call a negligible amount "zero."
Despite all the talk the US actually does import oil from Russia: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=M...