Louisiana offshore oil port built for imports now exporting record amounts of US crude

Reuters:

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) exported a record 283,333 barrels per day of light sweet crude last month, according to trade sources, as prices weakened against global Brent.

LOOP, which exports mostly medium sour grades produced in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, last month exported more than twice the amount of light sweet from the prior month. Overall exports of U.S. crude hit a record 3.77 million barrels per day (bpd) one week in June, U.S. government data showed.

A decline in oil imports at the facility, stemming from record U.S. production, paved the way for exports from LOOP storage facilities, said Abudi Zein, chief executive of market research firm ClipperData.

Crude imports at the port dropped in June to about 56,667 bpd, from 174,194 bpd in May, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed. While nearly a dozen new oil-export ports have been proposed along the Gulf Coast, LOOP is the only U.S. oil terminal now capable of fully loading and unloading supertankers.

U.S. crude’s discount to Brent widened in late May to minus $10.99 per barrel, the most in about a year, bolstering demand for U.S. oil. The spread was $6.42 per barrel on Tuesday.

Six tankers in June together carried a record 8.5 million barrels of light sweet crude from LOOP toward destinations in Asia and Europe, according to data from ClipperData and Refinitiv Eikon.

“If there were a lot of imports coming in, they wouldn’t have the space to push out all that crude,” Zein said. “Higher exports mean the pipe is pumping more out of the (storage) caverns.”
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Similar offshore ports are being planned for the Texas Gulf Coast to handle the flow of oil from the Permian Basin.  Corpus Christi is one of the main contenders for such a port.