Clyde Russell, Reuters, does an excellent job explaining US export economics here…
”Vessel-tracking and port data suggest Asian imports of U.S. crude were equivalent to about 560,000 barrels per day (bpd) in February, down sharply from 676,190 bpd in January.”
He uses the narrowing Brent-WTI spread to explain the decline in US exports to Asia:
But, a better measure is the WTI price in Houston, not Cushing, OK (where futures delivery takes place):
“It’s also likely that the spread for physical crude is actually narrower than that implied by the futures contracts.
Dated Forties and Oseberg crude BFO-, a physical price for two Brent grades, ended last week at $64.77 a barrel, just $1.74 above the physical WTI Houston price of $63.03, as assessed by price reporting agency Argus.”
And, Clyde talks about freight rates:
”Tanker rates from the United States to Asia have also been rising recently, with the cost of shipping a tonne of oil from Houston to China TC-HOU-DLC assessed by Thomson Reuters at $29.01 on March 2, up from $18.44 at the start of February and $16.79 in late September last year.”
This is a top shelf article dripping with good info, and there is more… Do read the whole thing: https://uk.reuters.com/article/column-russell/rpt-column-u-s-crude-exports-to-asia-are-slumping-as-wti-outperforms-other-oils-russell-idUKL4N1QO40M
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