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Polar Discovery headed to Korea ConocoPhillips exports cargo of Alaska North Slope crude oil; Sen. Murkowski says this first export of ANS outside US since 2004 Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
ConocoPhillips Alaska has a tanker load of Alaska North Slope crude oil en route to South Korea.
Genscape Vesseltracker AIS reported Sept. 29 that its vessel monitoring data showed that a cargo of ANS crude oil loaded Sept. 26 at Valdez for delivery to the Yeosu refining center in South Korea.
ConocoPhillips Alaska confirmed that the company had “entered into a sales agreement to export a cargo” of ANS for delivery to Asia in the fourth quarter. The company said terms of the deal were confidential.
“ConocoPhillips has the capability to export a limited amount of its ANS crude oil production to non-U.S. customers as allowed by law. This will enable the state of Alaska and ConocoPhillips to potentially realize a higher value for this important natural resource,” the company told Petroleum News in an email statement.
Genscape said ConocoPhillips told it the transaction was the result of higher bids from Asian customers than from West Coast customers for the trading period, allowing the company “a higher realized price for the crude oil after all incremental costs were taken into account.”
Genscape reported that the U.S.-flagged tanker Polar Discovery sailed from Valdez for East Asia, and said the 775,000 barrel per day GS Caltex-operated refinery at Yeosu is the fourth largest in the world.
First cargo in a decade “This is the first North Slope cargo to leave Alaska for overseas markets in a decade,” U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said in a statement. “I am encouraged to see Alaska increasing its participation in global oil markets. It’s my hope that Lower 48 oil will soon follow suit,” the senator said.
Murkowski has been advocating elimination of U.S. bans on oil exports.
The Sept. 29 statement from Murkowski’s office provided background on crude oil exports from Alaska.
Federal law authorized Alaska exports in 1995 and there was a presidential national interest determination in 1996. The law and decision were preceded by a Department of Energy study, which found there would be “a significant number of benefits to the United States from allowing the export of ANS crude.”
The background information provided in the senator’s statement included Alaska crude oil exports by destination from 1996 through 2004, the most recent year in which crude oil was exported from the state, with 805,000 barrels going to China in that year. There were exports to China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan every year from 1996 through 1999, and exports to Japan and South Korea in 2000, with volumes ranging from 553,000 barrels to Taiwan in 1999 to 13.46 million barrels to South Korea in 1999.
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