Possible crude cargo booked for USAC loading

A cargo of crude may depart the US Atlantic coast this month for a rare long-haul shipment.

Freepoint Commodities placed the Suezmax tanker Cherokee on subjects to depart the US Atlantic coast around 15 January for Asia-Pacific, according to shipping fixture reports today. Vessel tracking data indicates the oil tanker is currently positioned near Delaware after offloading a cargo of Guyanese crude that loaded in mid-December.

The vessel could likely load a cargo of light sweet Bakken or heavy sour Canadian crude delivered from the upper US midcontinent.

The 158,594 dwt vessel is classified as an oil carrier by the American Bureau of Shipping but also has the capacity to load products such as fuel oil.

Freepoint often buys Bakken, Eagle Ford and Canadian crude to sell or blend for international customers, according to public company information.

Freepoint did not respond to requests for comment.

The majority of US crude exports depart from the US Gulf coast, but rising light sweet crude production, along with uncertainty surrounding flows on the 570,000 b/d Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), has displaced some Bakken shipments from the US midcontinent.

Bakken, which is primarily produced in North Dakota, can travel to the US Gulf coast by way of DAPL and the connecting Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline (ETCOP), or it can travel to the US Atlantic coast by rail or pipeline. Shipments to the Atlantic coast generally compete with west African imports at regional refineries, although some crude cargoes have been exported in the past.

The last time a crude oil cargo was seen exported from the US Atlantic coast was in September, when roughly 315,000 bl departed Virginia for the Netherlands, according to data by the US Census Bureau updated through November 2020.

Similarly sized cargoes were exported from Virginia in each July and August, with both cargoes also directed to the Netherlands.

Virginia is host to Plains All American's Yorktown terminal, which generally handles oil, sulphur and natural gas, according to terminal agent Blue Water Shipping.

Connecticut also exported US crude in September, but 100pc of that volume was directed to neighboring Canada.

By Amanda Hilow