Page 4 - AsianOil Week 05 2021

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LOOP oil exports to Asia hit record highs

PIPELINES & CRUDE exports from the Louisiana Offshore
TRANSPORT Oil Port (LOOP) – the only US port that can
fully load very large crude carriers (VLCCs) –
achieved a new record in January. The increase
comes as Asian buyers are thought to be stock-
ing up on oil in anticipation of a post-pandemic
rebound in fuel demand.
Bloomberg reported this week that based
on ship-tracking data it had compiled, eight
vessels sailed from the LOOP in January, car-
rying nearly a combined 15mn barrels of oil to
South Korea, China and India. This is double the
volumes exported from the port in December
and notches up an all-time high for the LOOP.
Most of the vessels were VLCCs, which have the
capacity to carry up to 2mn barrels of oil. cited a Kpler crude market analyst, Emmanuel
Total US Gulf Coast crude outflows to Asia Belostrino, as saying it was likely that most of the
are reported to have risen to nearly 51mn barrels exports from the LOOP were Mars Blend.
in January. In January, some of OPEC’s largest oil pro-
The LOOP receives the bulk of the high-sul- ducers – Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Abu Dhabi and
phur crudes produced in the Gulf of Mexico, Kuwait – raised their monthly pricing for ship-
including Mars Blend, a regional sour bench- ments to Asia for February. The move came after
mark. This can replace sour crudes produced Saudi Arabia announced it would cut its oil pro-
in the Middle East, and indeed the rise in ship- duction by an additional 1mn bpd in February
ments from the LOOP comes as uncertainty and March, causing crude prices to jump.
remains for the return of some production Analysts said at the time that the higher cost
from OPEC and its allies. Asia is OPEC’s largest of Middle Eastern barrels could open up room
regional buyer. for other crudes, such as US oil. As a result, high
Louisiana state data show that Mars Blend flows of US crude to Asia from the LOOP and
crude output was estimated at over 500,000 other US ports are likely to continue over the
barrels per day (bpd) in November. Bloomberg course of February.™

SOUTH ASIA

RIL receives carbon-neutral crude oil cargo

PIPELINES & OCCIDENTAL Petroleum announced this for climate-differentiated crude oil”. The com-
TRANSPORT week that its Oxy Low Carbon Ventures division pany also views carbon-neutral oil as a stepping
had delivered a cargo of carbon-neutral crude oil stone to the development of net-zero oil, which
to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) in India. Occi- it intends to produce eventually, accompanied
dental said the 2mn barrel cargo was the energy by the capture and sequestration of atmospheric
industry’s first major petroleum shipment for carbon dioxide (CO2) from these operations.
which greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions asso- Occidental expects to begin producing such net-
ciated with the entire crude lifecycle had been zero oil in 2024, when it starts up new direct air
offset. capture (DAC) facilities.
The transaction was arranged in conjunction The cargo delivered to RIL was produced
with Macquarie Group’s commodities and global in the US’ Permian Basin. The offsets were
markets division, and Occidental described it as sourced from a variety of projects that were
the “first step in the creation of a new market verified under the Verra Verified Carbon

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 04•February•2021