LOOP imports rare Argentinian crude cargoes: In the LOOP

Several rare cargoes of two Argentinian light sweet crude grades have made their way to the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port so far in March, and the shipments appear to be some of the first to be imported by LOOP, according to US Customs and S&P Global Platts Analyticsdata.

On March 13, LOOP imported four cargoes of San Sebastian crude, with a combined volume of 119,003 barrels. The San Sebastian barrels, shipped by Trafigura from Acevedo, Argentina, have an API gravity of 42.1 degrees.

On that same date, LOOP also took in six cargoes of Maria Ines crude, with a combined volume of 261,796 barrels. Trafigura was also the shipper of record for the Maria Ines barrels, which have an average API gravity of 51.6 degrees. Like the San Sebastian barrels, the Maria Ines barrels were shipped from Acevedo. Crude volumes are produced in the Maria Ines oil field, located in the onshore Austral Basin in southern Argentina.

Requirements that Argentinian crude first be consumed by refiners there before any unused volumes are available for export have caused limited cargoes to be sent to the US in recent years.

A narrower Brent/WTI spread since the start of the year has added incentive to ship Brent-based barrels to the USGC. Brent's premium over WTI has fallen $1.68/b since January 2 to end at $4.58/b on Friday. As Brent's premium decreases, Brent-based grades like those produced in Argentina become more competitive with comparable WTI-based sweet grades.

So far in March, Gramercy, Louisiana, has also seen imports of both crude grades. On March 5, Gramercy buyers imported about 119,000 barrels of San Sebastian and 261,796 barrels of Maria Ines crude. Import records for the two years prior to that do not show any additional imports of the two grades to either the USGC or to Morgan City. The last imports of Argentinian crude appear to have been in late December, when 188,631 barrels of Cruz del Sur crude were imported to Gramercy.

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