Fastest-loading crude export sails from LOOP, bound for India

The third-ever and fastest-loading crude export out of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) sailed Wednesday afternoon and is headed to India, according to S&P Global Platts vessel-tracking software and confirmed by sources Monday.

Eagle Vancouver, a 311,900 mt VLCC, is due in Cochin, India, on July 22 and was in the Caribbean Sea south of Puerto Rico on Monday, according to cFlow, Platts trade flow software.

A source familiar with the situation said LOOP loaded the tanker one day faster than its previous best.

Indeed, cFlow showed six days between Eagle Vancouver's arrival and departure from LOOP. That compares with seven days for Shaden and 10 days for Nave Photon, the first and second VLCCs to load at LOOP earlier this year, respectively.

The source said LOOP is now "two to three days faster than anyone in the Gulf who has to do reverse lightering."

US Gulf Coast VLCC loadings average 10 days, according to a recent presentation by an Occidental Petroleum representative.

By comparison, the FPMC C MELODY, another VLCC, is loading in the US Gulf Coast at Enterprise Products' Texas City dock on the Houston Ship Channel.

That vessel arrived Thursday and remained at the dock Monday. FPMC C MELODY is expected to load at least 1.1 million barrels of crude at the dock. VLCCs typically hold about 2 million barrels. Simultaneously, Enterprise will also load an Aframax with the remaining 700,000-800,000 barrels and tow out both vessels to the lightering zone in the Gulf of Mexico, where crude from the Aframax will be transferred to the VLCC.

Ship-to-ship crude transfers are "highly variable [and] can be as fast as six days to as slow as two to three weeks ... [m]ultiple terminals and inclement weather can delay reverse lightering operations," according to the Oxy presentation.

Eagle Vancouver was fixed for a June-loading US Gulf Coast/East voyage by Vitol for a lump sum of $3.6 million, according to a Platts fixtures report.

It is not known what grade of oil was loaded onto Eagle Vancouver; however, the first two VLCCs to load at LOOP were believed to have been cargoes of Mars, a US Gulf of Mexico medium sour produced by Shell and BP. A fully-laden 270,000 mt VLCC would carry about 1.93 million barrels of 29.4 API Mars crude.

A 270,000 mt VLCC laden with 1.93 million barrels of crude at $3.6 million equates to a per-barrel cost of $1.87 for delivery.

The going rate for an Aframax for reverse lightering in the USGC is $250,000-$270,000, according to market sources. The ability to skip reverse lightering saves $1 million to $1.08 million, or at least 52 cents/b.

The US crude export to the West Coast of India is not an unheard of flow. India directly imported from the US about 3.5 million barrels of crude in January-April, or roughly 29,100 b/d, according to the most-recent US Customs data available. That accounted for about 2% of total US crude exports during that time, or No. 8 on top destinations for US crude. Multiple Indian refiners have taken US crudes in the past, including IOC, BPCL, BORL and Reliance.

Eagle Vancouver's listed captain's destination is Cochin, also known as Kochi, where BPCL operates a 190,000 b/d refinery. BPCL imported 500,000 barrels of Mars and 500,000 barrels of Poseidon in September or October, according to Platts archives.