Houston and the rest of the US Gulf Coast have more crude oil than the region can handle.
Stockpiles in the region centered on Houston and stretching to New Mexico in the west and Alabama in the east rose to 202 million barrels in the week ended April 4, the most on record, Energy Information Administration data released on Wednesday show.
Storage tanks are filling as new pipelines carry light, sweet oil found in shale formations to the coast and US law keeps companies from moving it out. Most crude exports are banned and the 13 ships that can legally move oil between US ports are booked solid. The federal Jones Act restricts domestic seaborne trade to vessels owned, flagged and built in the US and crewed by citizens.
“You can’t get all that light, sweet crude out, it’s all kind of piling up,” said Jeff McGee, the founder of Makai Marine Advisors in Dallas, who previously led research at two shipbrokers and worked as a refinery planner. “You couldn’t find a spot Jones Act ship to save your life right now.”
The glut will make prices of benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil US$13 a barrel cheaper later this year than Brent, the international benchmark, according to Bank of America forecasts. The EIA forecasts the average gap for 2014 will be about $9. WTI traded at a discount to Brent of $4.19 a barrel this morning on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.
Companies including TransCanada and Enterprise Products Partners built and reversed pipelines that helped a carry a record amount of oil to the Gulf Coast from the Midwest last year. Total US production reached 8.23 million barrels a day last week, the highest level since May 1988.
Even as senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the senior Republican on the energy and natural resources committee, added her support to ExxonMobil’s call to lift restrictions on crude exports, other lawmakers in Congress say they are concerned shipments would increase petrol prices at home.
“The ban on exporting US crude is mainly responsible for the pileup of crude stocks on the Gulf coast,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, the head of commodity markets at BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank. “The Jones Act is an additional hurdle in trying to move that surplus crude on the Gulf Coast to other areas of the US.”
The glut may start to shrink in the second quarter as refineries ramp up to meet summer gasoline demand. Plants on the Gulf Coast handled a record 7.92 million barrels a day of crude last year, equal to almost 80 per cent of Chinese consumption in 2012, according to IEA and EIA data compiled by Bloomberg. Refinery runs in the region rose by 167,000 barrels a day to 8.22 million last week, EIA data show.
* Bloomberg News
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
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'Dark Waters'
Directed by: Todd Haynes
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, William Jackson Harper
Rating: ****
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The specs: 2019 Jeep Wrangler
Price, base: Dh132,000
Engine: 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 285hp @ 6,400rpm
Torque: 347Nm @ 4,100rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.6L to 10.3L / 100km
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLE
Price, base / as tested Dh274,000 (estimate)
Engine 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder
Gearbox Nine-speed automatic
Power 245hp @ 4,200rpm
Torque 500Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.4L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
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MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
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In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Spec%20sheet
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ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5