• The US continued to increase seaborne crude exports towards the end of last year, posting around 3mn b/d in Q4, Vortexa data show, with exports from Corpus Christi representing the largest rise during 2019.

• Brazil also saw Q4 exports boom to a multi-year high of 1.5mn b/d, an uptick of over 350,000 b/d year on year. US refiners in PADD 5 were a notable beneficiary of this, importing 125,000 b/d in Q4, up by around 90,000 b/d year-on-year and the highest such intake from Brazil on quarterly basis since 2016, according to Vortexa. Arrivals of Brazilian crude into China – its largest export market – also touched a multi-year high of around 850,000 b/d in the same quarter, supported by robust demand from independent refiners.
• Australia, too, ramped up exports, boosted especially by condensates and heavy-sweet flows to Singapore. Q4 departures were 350,000 b/d, up close to 30% on the year.
• The start up of Norway’s Johan Sverdrup oil field lifted the country’s Q4 exports to 1.6mn b/d, up by 340,000 b/d from Q3 and by 320,000 b/d on the year. China has been the largest recipient of Johan Sverdrup crude to date, but the grade has also gone to a range of buyers around Europe and the Mediterranean region, competing against Russian medium sour Urals. 
• This month Guyana loaded its first commercial crude cargo aboard the Suezmax Yannis P, which will soon discharge medium-sweet  Liza crude in the US Gulf coast (PADD 3). A second Suezmax tanker, Eagle San Antonio, is due to load soon from the FPSO, with the fixture indicating it will also head to PADD 3. 

Interested in a more detailed view of these flows?

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