LOOP Sour becomes lighter, more sour for January: In the LOOP

The US crude blend LOOP Sour was lighter and more sour in January, according to a monthly assay posted by the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port.

As LOOP Sour crude became lighter, LOOP imported 4 million more barrels of Iraqi Basrah Light and 1.5 million more barrels of Kuwait Export crude than in December. Because not all LOOP-deliverable crudes arriving at LOOP are delivered into the LOOP Sour cavern, it is unknown how many of these Iraqi and Kuwaiti barrels were blended into the stream.

The oil terminal allocates one of its eight underground caverns to a medium sour blend comprised of US Gulf of Mexico grades Mars and Poseidon and a blend of Middle Eastern crudes called Segregation 17, which is comprised of Arab Medium, Basrah Light and Kuwait Export crude.

The LOOP Sour blend in January had an average API gravity of 30.5 degrees and sulfur content of 2.5%. Its minimum-maximum API gravity range was 29.7-31.2 degrees, while sulfur ranged from 1.92%-3%.

API and sulfur are two of many characteristics refiners look at when deciding which crudes to run to maximize or minimize production of particular refined products. Other factors include acidity, metals content, presence of asphaltenes and, ultimately, a distillation curve.

More than 1.08 million barrels were delivered ex-cavern in January, down from 2.1 million barrels in December and 1.85 million barrels in November.

LOOP auctions storage in the cavern through monthly allocation contracts, or CACs, sold during an auction. Each CAC gives the owner the right, but not the obligation, to store 1,000 barrels of LOOP Sour crude in the cavern during the contract month. The cavern holds roughly 7.5 million barrels. LOOP offers up 7.2 million barrels of that amount monthly.

LOOP received 13.438 million barrels of crude in January, up from 8.021 million barrels in December, according to data from S&P Global Platts Analytics and the US Customs office. Of January imports, about 6.4 million barrels consisted of Iraqi Basrah Light crude, up from 2.206 million barrels in December. Basrah Light has an average API gravity of 30.92 degrees and typical sulfur content of 2.72%.

Kuwait Export crude also made up a large proportion of January imports, with LOOP taking in about 3 million barrels, up from 1.451 million barrels in December. Kuwait Export crude has an average API gravity of 30.59 degrees and typical sulfur content of 2.66%.

Other import volumes not deliverable to the LOOP Sour cavern included about 1.425 million barrels of Iraqi Basrah Heavy crude. This represents a decrease at 2.006 million barrels from December levels. Basrah Heavy has an average API gravity of 23.84 degrees and typical sulfur content of 3.87%.

Canadian barrels constituted about 424,000 barrels of total LOOP imports, include 2,000 barrels of Hibernia and 422,000 barrels of Hebron. Latin American imports into Morgan City, Louisiana, included 490,000 barrels of Mexican Maya, 620,000 barrels of Brazilian Frade and 543,000 barrels of Venezuelan Morichal crude.

The 'In the LOOP' Americas crude oil wrap runs each Monday in Crude Oil Marketwire, North American Crude and Products Scan and on the Platts Global Alert. You can read the FAQ: USGC LOOP Sour crude here and find the full special report LOOP Sour Crude: A benchmark for the future here. Also be sure to download our LOOP app by searching for 'Platts LOOP' in your app store.