Source: The Barrel Blog | John-Laurent Tronche, Managing Editor | August 1, 2017

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The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port last week saw a rare tanker of light sweet crude, evidence of US Gulf Coast refiners looking to run more sweet crudes as a result of the narrower sweet-sour crude spread.

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Trafigura last week imported into LOOP 700,000 barrels of 44.3 API Saharan Blend on the tanker Cape Baxley. That is the first time the crude has arrived at LOOP since at least September 2015, though Valero typically imports about 1 million barrels/month of Saharan Blend into nearby Gramercy, Louisiana.

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Trafigura fixed the tanker at Worldscale 45, according to S&P Global  Platts fixture reports.

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The move is notable because LOOP customers tend to focus on waterborne imports of heavy and medium sour crudes. The top five imported crudes into LOOP in 2017 so far are Basrah Light, Arab Light, Kuwait, Arab Medium and Basrah Heavy, according to customs data. Those five crudes account for 84% of total waterborne imports into LOOP in 2017. The lightest of those, Arab Light, is typically 33.3 API.

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