- if this is accurate, this is simply incredible; stand-alone post later -- Bloomberg is reporting that Saudi crude oil shipped to US dropped below 100,000 bopd that would be the lowest in 244 years except for a few outlying years when Saudi Arabia sent zero bbls to the US
- oilprice has the same story here; linking the Bloomberg story;
That Bloomberg link:
American refiners received the least oil from Saudi Arabia since 1985 as a slump in volumes shipped out by the desert kingdom in October are finally reaching U.S. shores.
In October, Saudi Arabia sent just under 100,000 barrels a day of oil to U.S. refineries as shipments to China surged at that time.
Tankers from Saudi Arabia take about six weeks to reach either the Gulf or Pacific coasts of the U.S. Hence, the delivery of just 73,000 barrels a day to U.S. customers last week, as preliminary U.S. Energy Information Administration data show. The volume is the lowest in weekly data available through June 2010, but using monthly figures it would be the least since 1985 when Saudi imports fell to zero for several months.
US oil imports from Saudi Arabia, link here:
Bloomberg writer is taking a narrow view story. EIA reported exports of 919,000 bbls/day of crude, and crude and product stock was up. Refiners are working on slim margins and buying feedstock at best price whether domestic or imported via ship or pipeline from Canada. USA refiners over the past few years have made their refineries adaptable to different types of crude (light or heavy)to take advantage of best price feedstock for the best return of refined products. Simply Saudi Ariba can get a better return on crude other that USA.
ReplyDeleteAnd as a reminder, the March 2000 spike was due to a safe place to store the excess oil during the March 2000 contango.
A simple case of what someone is willing a able to pay for crude oil. Economics 101
1000% correct and something we would not have seen before the US shale revolution. People tend to forget at one time, Saudi Arabia controlled the price of oil. Not so much any more. Oil is trading more like a real commodity now, not controlled by any cartel. But people sort of forget that.
DeleteI don't think EIA was taking any view; they were simply reporting numbers.
It's interesting: cartels are also discussed / taught in Econ 101.