Crude oil exports from the U.S. Gulf Coast are expected to reach a record high of 3.3 million barrels per day this quarter, analysts from the global energy consultancy Rystad Energy said Monday, thanks to more supplies and limited capacity to refine them.
According to newly released data from Rystad, more than 95% of those U.S. crude exports in the second quarter of 2022 will be transported via the ports of Corpus Christi, Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Louisiana.
In a press release Monday announcing the record-high Gulf Coast exports, Rystad cited President Joe Biden’s push to drive down U.S. gas prices, including his decision earlier this year to release 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as a reason for the record-high exports. The United States is also shipping more barrels to Europe, which intends to stop importing most Russian oil.
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“Domestic refining capacity in the US remains depressed compared to pre-Covid levels, so it’s no surprise that government intervention to support crude supplies has resulted in an increase in exports of domestically produced light barrels,” Artem Abramov, the head of shale research at Rystad Energy, said in a press release.
“It means the US is able to support global markets amid the most challenging energy crisis in at least 30 years,” he added.
But the unintended consequence of the SPR release, analysts said, is that more barrels than ever are being exported to international buyers.
According to energy data firm Kpler, U.S. crude exports to Europe are slated to average roughly 1.4 million bpd this quarter, roughly 30% higher than the same point in 2021, Reuters reported.
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“The 1.53 million bpd of U.S. crude exports to Europe recorded in April is the second-highest reading on record,” Viktor Katona, the co-director of crude analysis at Kpler, told Reuters, adding that the higher purchases from European consumers “more than offset” the decline in flows to Asian countries as they ramp up their purchase of discounted Russian crude.
