Vancouver has overtaken the US Gulf coast in volume of Canadian crude exports since the expanded Trans Mountain pipeline system came online in May, according to analytics firm Vortexa.
About 225,000 b/d of crude was exported from Vancouver, British Columbia, between 1 May and 15 July, compared with about 90,000 b/d of Canadian crude re-exported from the US Gulf coast, Vortexa data show.
In June, the first full calendar month with the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) system, exports of crude from Vancouver reached 300,000 b/d, more than double the 145,000 b/d of Canadian crude exported from the US Gulf coast.
The 590,000 b/d TMX project nearly tripled the capacity of Trans Mountain's system to 890,000 b/d when it opened on 1 May.
The line creates a larger link from Alberta's growing oil sands production to the west coast port of Vancouver and direct access to lucrative Pacific Rim markets, where buyers are eager for heavy sour crude.
Prior to TMX, the majority of waterborne Canadian crude exports were shipped by pipeline to the US Gulf coast and re-exported from Texas.
In January-April this year, about 175,000 b/d of Canadian crude was re-exported from Texas, compared to just 40,000 b/d from Vancouver, according to Vortexa data.
In June, about 225,000 b/d from the Aframax-restricted port of Vancouver in June went to Asia-Pacific destinations, primarily via ship-to-ship transfers onto very large crude carriers (VLCCs) at the Pacific Area Lightering zone (PAL) offshore southern California.
Higher Chinese and Indian demand for heavy sour Canadian crude capped demand for other heavy sour grades from Ecuador, Mexico and Colombia, Vortexa analyst Mary Melton said.
But the gain in market share for Vancouver-origin crude has not led to notable gains for VLCCs on the west coast of the Americas, she said. Seven VLCCs departed the region in June, compared with six in May, Vortexa data show.
By Tray Swanson
