Liza crude cargo booked for Europe: Update

Added December cargo.

A cargo of Guyanese Liza crude will depart for a rare trip to Europe in early April, potentially spurred by global market participants seeking alternative supplies to Russian oil.

ExxonMobil placed the Suezmax tanker Homeric on subjects to travel from Guyana to Europe starting 3 April with a cargo of non-heated crude, according to shipping fixture reports. The empty tanker is currently in transit to the FPSO Liza Destiny after recently offloading at Turkish refiner Tupras' Tutunciftlik/Izmit refinery, according to Vortexa.

Most medium sweet Liza crude has traveled to the US and Singapore since ExxonMobil started production at the deepwater Stabroek block in December 2019. A small volume went to Europe for the first time in November 2021 — when less than 10,000 bl was loaded for delivery to the UK, likely co-loaded with a larger cargo for Singapore that loaded the same month, according to an analysis of customs data.

The first full-sized Liza cargo to Europe landed at the Spanish port of Cartagena in December on the Suezmax Front Idun, which held an estimated 1mn bl.

Liza generally has a gravity around 32°API and a sulfur content less than 0.6pc, according to a crude oil assay made publicly available by ExxonMobil.

By Amanda Hilow