Global AIS: Genscape Spots Alaskan Crude Export VLCC

No Alaskan crude oil has been exported outside of the United States since 2004. Genscape Vesseltracker monitoring data showed that a cargo of Alaskan North Slope crude was loaded Sept. 26 at the Alaskan port of Valdez for delivery into the South Korean refining center of Yeosu, says a Genscape blog post.

The U.S.-flagged tanker, Polar Discovery, is reported to have sailed from the ANS export terminal at Valdez, Alaska, for east Asia. Yeosu is home to a GS Caltex-operated 775,000 bpd refinery, the world’s fourth largest. The Polar Discovery is expected to arrive at Yeosu on October 10, according to Vesseltracker.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, no Alaskan crude oil has been exported outside of the United States since 2004. Overseas exports of ANS are permitted by U.S. federal law.

ConocoPhillips (COP) confirmed to Genscape on Sept. 29 that it had entered into a sales agreement to export a cargo of ANS crude to Asia during Q4 2014. According to a ConocoPhillips official, the company is “entering into this transaction because during the trading period for this volume, bids from Asian customers were higher than bids from U.S. West Coast customers. At that point we calculated we could achieve a higher realized price for the crude oil after all incremental costs were taken into account.”

“Given the new market paradigm created by increased domestic and Canadian production, we will consider and pursue export markets for ANS crude oil when appropriate,” ConocoPhillips said. Railed shipments of U.S. and Canadian crude have increased into U.S. West Coast destinations in recent months as North American production has increased.

The Polar Discovery’s cargo size is unconfirmed but it may be around 784,000 bbls, sources said. So far this year, the 141,740 deadweight tonne tanker has shuttled Alaskan crude into refineries on the U. S. West Coast.

Genscape explains that with one of the largest privately owned AIS receiver networks on the planet and the largest AIS Satellite constellation currently available, Vesseltracker data allows insight into real-time ship positions, destination, draft, and more.

Source: Genscape Vesseltracker