March 23, 2015 – Financial Times
US oil shipments ease despite end to export ban
By: Gregory Meyer
The US government abolished 40-year-old constraints on crude oil exports in December. But since then less US oil has been put on ships headed abroad.
Volumes of US crude exported by tanker have declined 5 per cent in 2016 to an average 325,000 barrels a day, according to Clipper Data, a market intelligence service. Waterborne exports were 342,000 b/d in the first three months of 2015.
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US West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 2.5 per cent to $40.39 a barrel on Wednesday, while the international marker Brent was down 2.3 per cent to $40.84. Sandy Fielden, director of energy analytics at RBN Energy, said with benchmark oil prices in line and US production in retreat, “it’s not like there’s a flood of crude waiting to get shipped out”.
US crude oil imports are up 8.6 per cent this year to meet strong demand from domestic refineries. Last week’s volume of 8.4m b/d was the most since June 2013, the government reported.
