U
S crude oil exports have kept growing during the first half of 2024, with European and Asian destinations dominating the trade. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “2023 has been another positive period for crude oil trade, despite the high oil prices and risks of economic recession. In Jan-Dec 2023, global crude oil loadings went up +4.7% y-o-y to 2186.8 mln tonnes, excluding all cabotage trade, according to vessels tracking data from Refinitiv. The positive trend continued in Jan-Jun 2024, when global loadings increased by +0.8% y-o-y to 1109.2 mln t, from 1100.2 mln t in the same period of 2023. Exports from the Arabian Gulf were down by -2.3% y-o-y to 434.6 mln t in Jan-Jun 2024, and accounted for 39.2% of global seaborne trade. Exports from Russian ports (including Kazakh crude) also declined by -0.7% y-o-y to 114.4 mln tonnes, or 10.3% of global trade. From South America, exports surged by +16.3% y-o-y to 86.6 mln t. From ASEAN exports surged by +18.1% y-o-y to 65.9 mln t”.
Source: Banchero Costa Shipbrokers
According to Banchero Costa, “in terms of demand, the top seaborne importer of crude oil in Jan-Jun 2024 was Mainland China, accounting for 23.1% of global trade. Volumes into China increased by +2.1% y-o-y to 257.5 mln t in Jan-Jun 2024, from 252.2 mln t in Jan-Jun 2023, and also above the 241.0 mln t in Jan-Jun 2021. Imports to the EU27 increased by +1.2% y-o-y to 238.0 mln t, accounting for 21.4% of global trade. To ASEAN, imports increased by +11.0% y-o-y to 135.0 mln t. To India, volumes increased by +0.9% y-o-y to 118.8 mln t in Jan-Jun 2024. The Unites States have been arguably the biggest winner from the sanctions regime imposed on Russia and from OPEC’s attempt to support oil prices through cutting production quotas”.
Source: Banchero Costa Shipbrokers
Meanwhile, “exports from the USA sharply increased in recent years, to the point that it is now the third largest exporter in the world, after Saudi and Russia. The USA now account for 9.5% of global crude oil loadings (excluding cabotage). Crude oil exports from the USA increased by +19.5% y-o-y in 2023, to 197.2 mln tonnes, building on the already impressive +22.9% y-o-y increase recorded in 2022. Volumes from the USA in 2023 were +53.2% higher than in 2019. In Jan-Jun 2024, exports from the USA increased by a further +4.0% y-o-y to 105.1 mln tonnes, compared to 101.1 mln t in the first half of 2023. About 50 percent of international crude exports from the USA in the first half of 2024 were loaded in Corpus Christi, about 15 percent from Houston, about 13 percent from Galveston, about 5 percent from LOOP, about 3 percent from Bayport, about 2 percent from Beaumont”, Banchero Costa said.
The shipbroker added that “given persisting infrastructure limitations, still only 52 percent of crude oil volumes loaded at USA ports in 1H 2024 were loaded on VLCCs. Most VLCC cargoes are loaded in Corpus Christi, Galveston and LOOP. About 25 percent of volumes are loaded on Suezmaxes, and 22 percent isloaded on Aframaxes. In terms of destinations for the shipments, it is quite diversified, with about 45% to Europe, 42% to Asia, and the rest to the Americas. Direction Europe, about 36.3 mln tonnes (34.6 percent of the total) were shipped from the USA to the European Union in the first 6 months of 2024, whilst about 8.2 mln tonnes (7.8 percent of the total) went to the UK. Specifically, 11.8 mln tonnes were shipped in Jan-Jun 2024 to the Netherlands, 6.3 mln t to Spain, 4.5 mln t to France, 4.3 mln t to Germany, 3.5 mln t to Italy, 1.5 mln to Denmark, 1.4 mln to Sweden. Overall exports from the USA to the European Union increased by +7.8% yo-y in Jan-Jun 2024. Direction Asia, about 13.3 mln tonnes were shipped from the USA to South Korea in Jan-Jun 2024 (12.7% of the USA’stotal), up +5.0% y-o-y. To Mainland China volumes declined by -20.7% y-o-y in Jan-Jun 2024 to 10.7 mln tonnes, after surging by +209.9% y-o-y in the same period of 2023. Volumes to Taiwan also declined by -2.1% y-o-y to 5.9 mln t. Volumes from the USA to ASEAN corrected marginally by -0.2% y-o-y in Jan-Jun 2024 to 9.3 mln t”, Banchero Costa concluded.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
