The US was Spain's largest source of imported crude in December and, for the first year ever, in all of 2023.
US light-sweet grades such as WTI are likely to continue to feature heavily on Spanish refiners' slates in the first quarter of this year as conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine affect westbound crude supplies to Europe. The January start-up of Nigeria's 650,000 b/d Dangote refinery could crimp supplies from the west African country.
Span's imports from the US more than doubled on the month to a record 262,000 b/d in December. They were 182,000 b/d for the full year, up by 31pc from 2022. By contrast imports from Nigeria, which spent five years as Spain's leading suppler, fell by 21pc on the year to about 130,000 b/d in 2023.
US grades accounted for more than 20pc of Spain's 1.20mn b/d crude imports in December. This total was down by 1pc from November 8pc lower on the year, according to state-owned petroleum reserves agency Cores. The dominance of US crude was reflected in a narrowing of Spanish refiners' slates in December, when 25 grades were imported from 14 countries compared with 33 grades from 16 countries in November.
The record US receipts in December affected imports from Nigeria, which dropped by 26pc on the month to a nine-month low of 92,000 b/d.
Spanish crude imports appeared to sweeten in December, when there was a narrowing of sweet-sour crude spreads in Europe, an influx of US blends, an eight-month high 85,000 b/d in receipts of Algerian Saharan Blend and Angolan imports of 122,000 b/d, up by 26pc on the month.
Suppliers of sourer crudes appeared to reduce. Arrivals from Saudi Arabia fell by 13pc from November to 65,000 b/d, and from Iraq they fell by 6pc to similar levels. Mexico bucked the trend, with shipments split between heavy sour Maya blend delivered to Repsol's refineries and medium-sour Isthmus blend mainly used by Cepsa. Imports of Mexican grades were up by 23pc on the month to 125,000 b/d in December. Increased use of Isthmus by Cepsa has managed to offset declining use of Repsol's staple Maya since 2021. The latter has been replaced with Brazilian, Venezuelan and Canadian heavy crudes.
Spanish receipts of Mexican crude in 2023 recovered by 15pc to 135,000 b/d after five years of decline, making the country Spain's second largest crude supplier last year.
Brazil rose to become Spain's third main supplier in 2023 with 132,000 b/d supplied, up by 23pc from 2022. This was supported by Repsol's increased use of heavy-sour Peregrino at its Bilbao and Cartagena refineries, and by more medium-sweet sub-salt crudes on all refiners' slates.
Crude imports for Spain's 1.49mn b/d refining system fell by 3pc in 2023 to 1.23mn b/d, according to Cores.
