November 17, 2015 – Reuters
Seaway shipments lag on closed arbitrage, end-of-year taxes
By: Liz Hampton
Nov 17 Crude shipments on a major pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma to the U.S. Gulf Coast have fallen sharply this week as a supply glut erodes price spreads between the two locations and market players avoid lofty end-of-year taxes in Texas.
Read the full article here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/17/pipelines-enterprise-prodt-seaway-idUSL1N13C22A20151117#6wMhh4v3y9DpApXP.97
Right now, there is so much crude on the Gulf Coast that barrels arriving from Cushing would fetch fewer dollars for sellers than if they stayed in Oklahoma.
West Texas Intermediate crude at the Magellan East Houston terminal traded at a 35 cents a barrel discount to the WTI benchmark on Monday, hardly enough to justify the $4 a barrel tariff to move uncommitted barrels, which don't have long-term supply contracts, from Cushing to points in Texas.
"The only reason to ship there is if you have committed barrels," Sandy Fielden, Director of Energy Analytics at RBN Energy, said.
