WASHINGTON: U.S. East Coast refineries, which have thrived for a few years on a boom of production from the Bakken shale play in North Dakota and eastern Montana, are increasingly looking abroad to supply their needs. Last year through November, the region imported 884,000 barrels a day, which would be the highest full-year total since 2011, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show. Angola, Nigeria and Brazil have increased shipments to the East Coast this year. Rising supplies overseas made imported oil cheaper than domestic for the first time since 2013, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show. Canada is usually the leading importer to the region. The price switch opened the doors for refineries like PBF Energy Inc., Philadelphia Energy Solutions and Phillips 66 to boost imports, says Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston. He said the new Dakota Access Pipeline, one of the energy projects supported by President Donald Trump, will make the East Coast even more reliant on imports.
The 1,172-mile line developed by Energy Transfer Partners LP may start moving crude June 1, according to a person familiar with the matter. It will connect the Bakken to Patoka, Illinois. Existing pipelines can take oil from Patoka to refineries in the Midwest and on the Gulf Coast, not to the East Coast. The East Coast relies mostly on rail to get Bakken oil. “When the Dakota Access Pipeline starts, you will see less availability of Bakken in the East Coast and more imports coming,” Lipow said in a phone interview. “It will be more economical to ship Bakken oil to the Gulf Coast by pipeline than rail it to the East Coast.”
