VLCC Supertanker taking 2M barrels of U.S. crude oil into world market
Feb. 17, 2018: The first oil supertanker, capable of carrying 2M barrels of crude, reportedly is being loaded in Louisiana this week by Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), signalling the next phase in the U.S. transition to becoming a major energy exporter.
The Saudi Arabian-flagged VLCC is due to leave the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port with a crude oil cargo of medium sour crude oil, Platts reports.
LOOP, which began operations in 1981, is the first and only deepwater oil port in the U.S. and is the only U.S. oil facility capable of offloading vessels as large as VLCCs and ULCCs, as well as a range of smaller vessels; LOOP is a joint venture of Shell, Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC) and Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO).
“It’s a big deal for the industry because it develops additional logistics for our increasing oil production,” says oil analyst Andrew Lipow, who adds the ship looks set to sail on Feb. 18. “There’s an ever increasing amount of logistics that are being used to export crude off the Gulf Coast to overseas markets.”