In the LOOP: Third VLCC of the year departs Louisiana, bound for South Korea

Louisiana Offshore Oil Port continues to load on average one VLCC crude tanker per month for export and logged its third such export of the year late last week.

The 2 million barrel-capacity VLCC Dilam loaded at LOOP and set sail for South Korea on Wednesday, according to cFlow, Platts trade flow software.

Dilam marks the third VLCC export from LOOP so far this year. All of the LOOP-loaded tankers have been taken to South Korea. New Caesar departed LOOP on February 1 and was observed in South China Sea on Monday. The tanker is expected to arrive at the Port of Yeosu in South Korea on March 26. The 2 million barrel-capacity Amad set sail from LOOP on January 6 and also made a trip to the Far East.

The vessels' destination of Yeosu is home to the 785,000 b/d GS Caltex refinery, which runs mainly light and medium sour crudes. South Korea continues to be a popular destination for US crudes. The country has taken on average, 2 million barrels/week during the past five weeks, according to Platts data.

LOOP, which is only facility in the US that can directly load a VLCC without using ship-to-ship transfers, first started exporting crude on VLCCs in February 2018. The facility averaged loading about one tanker a month for the remainder of the year.

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LOOP exported 1.94 million barrels of crude oil in February 2018, which was the first month of LOOP exports, according to data from the state of Louisiana. In December, the most recent month for which data is available, LOOP exported about a record-high 6 million barrels. That same month LOOP reported loading three VLCCs.

US crude exports have exploded in the past year, reaching or exceeding 3 million b/d twice in 2018.

US crude exports reached a record high of 3.6 million b/d for the week ending February 15 and the four-week crude export average is about 3 million b/d, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

The US exported around 2.3 million b/d for the week ending March 15, according to S&P Global Analytics.