Enterprise to Export its First US Crude after Export Ban Lifted

Enterprise Products Partners LP said on Wednesday it won its first contract to export U.S. crude oil for trader Vitol in what may become the first such cargo exported in almost four decades after Congress last week voted to lift the export ban.

 

The Houston-based pipeline company said in a statement it will be providing pipeline and marine terminal services to load a 600,000-barrel cargo of domestic light crude oil scheduled for the first week of January.

 

An Enterprise spokesman said that the cargo belongs to Vitol, which will decide on a delivery destination. A spokeswoman for Vitol could not immediately be reached for comment on where the oil was going.

 

Some oil traders expressed surprise at the news, saying that with the U.S. crude futures contract trading over Brent, exports were not economical.

 

"We are excited to announce our first contract to export U.S. crude oil, which to our knowledge may be the first export cargo of U.S. crude oil from the Gulf Coast in almost 40 years," said A.J. "Jim" Teague, chief operating officer of Enterprise's general partner.

 

On Friday, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law a $1.8 trillion government spending and tax relief bill that included repealing the four-decade-old export ban.


(Reporting by Catherine Ngai in Toronto, Liz Hampton in Houston and Amrutha Gayathri in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Will Dunham)