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Trans Mountain oil pipeline loads 19 Aframax vessels in July, somewhat listed below June levels

About 19 Aframax ships loaded around 330,000 barrels each day of petroleum in July at Canada's. West Coast in the 2nd complete month of operations on the freshly. expanded Trans Mountain pipeline, slightly lower than June,. vesseltracking data revealed.

The pipeline loadings are carefully expected their impact. on international oil flows and freight rates. The pipeline's success is. also crucial to the Canadian government's strategy to recoup its. investment by offering the $24.84 billion (C$ 34 billion) line.

July departures represent quite strong exports particularly. provided the need in markets such as China haven't been. performing particularly well, said Rohit Rathod, an expert at. energy data company Vortexa.

Besides the 19, vessel Caspian Sea on Wednesday was moored. and prepared to pack at the Westridge Marine terminal in. Vancouver.

Trans Mountain had actually loaded about 350,000 barrels daily. ( bpd) on 20 Aframax vessels partially and one non-Aframax vessel. in June, the company stated last month. It has the capability to. load 34 Aframax ships a month.

The vessels, partially packed Aframaxes able to bring about. 550,000 barrels each, cruised mostly to the U.S. West Coast and. China.

We now have a group of vessels (Aframaxes) transferred to. America's west coast and engaged in bring Canadian crude. either to the U.S. West Coast and even long run to China,. Vortexa's Rathod said.

Tanker Yuan He Wan loaded about 550,000 barrels of oil and. cruised to Ulsan in South Korea, marking the very first cargo to head. to the Asia nation considering that the expansion.

Refineries on the U.S. West Coast were still testing out the. heavy crude barrels readily available on Trans Mountain, and the cost of. using different-sized vessels to transfer the crude was having. an effect on where the oil is being shipped, stated Geoff Murray,. executive vice-president of business at shipper Cenovus Energy .

Leading U.S. refiners were key purchasers of the crude in July.

Marathon Petroleum's Los Angeles Refinery, Valero. Energy's Benicia refinery, Chevron Corp's El. Segundo refinery were the common locations from the legacy. TMX pipeline loadings, and this stays the case as volumes ramp. up, with Phillips 66's Ferndale joining them in recent. months, stated Matt Smith, an expert at ship tracking company. Kpler.

TMX did not instantly reply to a request for remark.

Chevron and Valero likewise did not respond to requests for. comment, while Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum declined to. comment.

Phillips 66 said today the pipeline was running around. 650,000 to 675,000 bpd and headed towards 700,000 bpd by the end. of the year.

About two-thirds of incremental TMX barrels have actually entered into. Asia, which has actually been a bit of a surprise for us, stated Brian. Mandell, a Phillips 66 vice president. The refiner benefited. from more barrels to the West Coast, he added.

TMX was estimated to be about 80% full, with all committed. capability being utilized, 2 traders said. One of them included TMX was. running extremely well.

Canadian oil carriers would be slow to utilize Trans. Mountain's 20% of uncommitted spot capability since it is more. pricey than other pipelines, Cenovus' Murray added.

(source: Reuters)