Gulf Coast Oil Being Shipped to Canadian Refineries; US Production Hits Highest Since 1994

"Anon 1" sent this most interesting link. The story stands without need for comment.

At Bloomberg:

Valero Energy Corp. has received approval from the Commerce Department to ship crude from the U.S. Gulf Coast to its Quebec City refinery.

The 235,000-barrel-a-day refinery processes primarily light, low-sulfur crude from Europe and Africa, Bill Klesse, Valero’s chief executive officer, said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 30. Shipping costs from the Gulf Coast to Quebec averaged about $2 a barrel or less, he said. The company hasn’t transported any significant shipments yet, Bill Day, a San Antonio, Texas-based spokesman for the company, said today [December 20, 2012] in an e-mail.

U.S. crude production increased to 6.863 million barrels a day last week, the most since January 1994, Energy Department data show. The production gains have been primarily light, low sulfur crude from Bakken and Eagle Ford shale formations in North Dakota and southern Texas. U.S. crude moving to Canada would displace light, sweet oil from West African nations like Nigeria and Angola, said Amrita Sen, chief oil market analyst for Energy Aspects Ltd in London.

Nothing else to say.