NEW YORK: The US sent a record volume of crude oil abroad in April with more cargoes bound for Asia and Europe and exports to Canada hitting an all-time high, according to Census Bureau data.
Exports surged 41% to average 586,379 bpd in April, the most in US government data going back to 1920. The majority went to Canada, which brought in a record 492,237 bpd. The Netherlands took its first shipment of 1.12 million barrels from the US, and South Korea imported 1.19 million, its most in 15 years. The total includes shipments of condensate and re-exports of Canadian crude.
America’s shipments abroad are rising as producers use horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to pull record volumes of oil out of shale formations, while seeking to end a decades-old ban on most crude exports. The tight-oil boom has already turned the US into the world’s biggest fuel supplier and has propelled domestic crude production to the highest in more than 40 years.
“Refineries are coming out of maintenance, and US oil is looking attractive compared to other imports,” said Richard Mallinson, an analyst at consulting company Energy Aspects. “You still have a pretty good discount for US crude relative to imported barrels.”
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil was trading at a $4.11/bbl discount to the international standard North Sea Brent crude on Wednesday afternoon in New York. The spread widened to as much as $12.81/bbl in February.
