First Alaskan North Slope Crude Export Planned For Nicaragua -- Reuters - July 2, 2016

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Alaskan North Slope (ANS) crude will be shipped to Nicaragua for the first time in July, underscoring a shift in oil flows to and from the U.S. West Coast.

Global crude flows have changed in the last six months as oversupplied markets force producers to compete aggressively on price. The United States in December lifted a four-decade ban on exporting crude, giving global refiners access to a wider variety of crude.

ANS, which was exempted from the U.S. export ban, is almost exclusively sold to West Coast refiners and transported on U.S. flagged vessels owned by BP Plc, Exxon and ConocoPhillips that comply with maritime law. The rare cargoes that have moved abroad in recent years have gone to South Korea or Japan.

In March, Trafigura took 380,000 barrels of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude at its Puma refinery in Nicaragua.

Trafigura has a stake in Puma Energy, which operates a small refinery in Managua, Nicaragua, and manages downstream assets in 47 countries.