US light oil exports double in 2015

US exports of ultra-light crude oil reached 120,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in May, double the 60,000-bopd figure seen at the beginning of the year.

Europe is the main destination for the exports, which saw rates of between 120,000 and 140,000 bopd in May, trading sources told Reuters.

Shipments of the ultra-light crude, which is lightly processed through stabilisers, are able to circumvent the US ban on crude oil exports.

The sources named Texas midstream company Enterprise Products Partners as top among the exporters, shipping around 60,000 bopd. The company signed one-year purchase agreements with Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation and multinational commodity traders Vitol in early 2015.

BHP Billiton was also singled out for having sold 700,000 barrels of the ultra-light crude cargo per month.

In late 2014, Enterprise acquired Oiltanking Partners, the largest oil storage operator on the US Gulf Coast. The move was reportedly met with complaints to the US Federal Trade Commission by companies including BP, who accused Enterprise of trying to dominate the US oil export business.

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