In the LOOP: Q3 Louisiana crude imports fall even as refinery input rises

Louisiana's crude imports in the third quarter of 2018 fell 15.616 million barrels year on year despite higher regional refinery runs for the same period amid a wider year-on-year Brent/WTI swap spread.

Louisiana refineries and buyers brought in 62.389 million barrels of crude in Q3 2018, according to data from US Customs and Border Protection and S&P Global Platts Analytics.

Of that amount, 22.341 million barrels were imported from Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. This represents a year-on-year decrease of 2.405 million barrels of crude sourced from Middle East producers.

Imports going specifically to Morgan City, Louisiana, the delivery point for the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, in Q3 fell 10.612 million barrels year on year to 20.893 million barrels.

Despite the year-on-year decrease in total Q3 imports, October saw Louisiana buyers bring in 5.636 million barrels more crude than in October 2017, the data show.

The number of barrels imported via Morgan City in October also rose 4.287 million barrels year on year to 10.915 million barrels.

Unlike overall Q3 volumes, October imports in Louisiana included 7.012 million more barrels of crude sourced from Middle East producers than the year-ago period for a total of 12.597 million barrels purchased from Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Even as Q3 imports fell, US Gulf Coast refinery input levels averaged 9.246 million b/d in the period, an increase of 659,000 b/d year on year. October's input also increased year on year, rising 793,000 b/d to 9.238 million barrels.

The decrease in Q3 import levels coincided with a wider Brent/WTI swap spread. In Q3, the Brent/WTI swap spread averaged $6.33/b, about $2.30/b wider than in the year-ago period. In October, the Brent/WTI swap spread averaged $9.85/b, about $3.80/b wider than the year-ago period. As Brent's premium over WTI increases, WTI-based domestic grades become more economic to run than Brent-based imported grades, including those from the Middle East.

Kuwait Export Crude, along with Basrah Light and Arab Medium, are delivered into LOOP's Segregation 17 crude blend. Segregation 17 is blended with Mars and Poseidon to form the LOOP Sour crude stream.