Third U.S. Condensate Cargo for Japan Loads
The third cargo of condensate, or ultra-light oil, since the U.S. eased its 40-year export ban has been loaded on a tanker and departed for Japan on Monday, according to shipping sources and data.
Japanese refiner Cosmo Oil chartered Panamax tanker Lian Ping Hu, which loaded the oil at the Teppco Seaways terminal in Texas City, Texas, during the weekend, according to the sources and Reuters AIS live shiptracking.
The 300,000-barrel cargo is expected to arrive in Japan in early October. Cosmo Oil declined to comment.
Cosmo Oil operates refineries in Chiba near Tokyo and Yokkaichi and Sakai in western Japan, with a combined capacity of 452,000 barrels per day.
South Korea's GS Caltex and ExxonMobil bought the first two U.S. condensate export cargoes to ship after the government softened its ban on crude exports.
The light oil, known as condensate, has to be put through a stabilizer to qualify it as a refined product, eligible for export without a license.
GS Caltex's cargo is expected to arrive at its refinery in Yeosu on Sept. 10. Exxon's cargo onboard tanker Georgis Nikolos left the Teppco Seaways terminal on Aug. 21 and is headed to Rotterdam, shiptracking data on Reuters showed.
By Anna Louie Sussman, Florence Tan, Osamu Tsukimori
