January 13, 2016 – The Wall Street Journal
U.S. Exports First Freely Traded Oil in 40 Years
By: Alison Sider
The ink is barely dry on legislation to lift a 40-year-old ban on exporting U.S. crude and energy companies already are jockeying to ship American oil overseas.
Two tankers filled with freely traded U.S. oil have pulled out of Texas ports in the past two weeks, with more shipments expected. The first American oil sales abroad are flowing to Europe but, in the longer term, Latin America and Asia could become natural markets, according to industry experts.
Read the full article here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-exports-first-freely-traded-oil-in-40-years-1452643962
Corpus Christi is home to other energy companies that want to export. At its peak in August 2014, the port shipped out more than 750,000 barrels a day, mostly to U.S. or Canadian refineries, according to Housely Carr, an analyst with RBN Energy LLC in Houston.
“That could make Corpus a major center of crude exports going forward,” he said in a recent research note.
The oil being shipped abroad is light, sweet crude, which is pricier than the heavy crude U.S. refiners are equipped to process, noted Skip York, vice president of integrated energy at Wood Mackenzie. “The barrels leaving U.S. are a better fit for other refiners” around the world, he said.
