Exclusive: Mexico's Light Crude, Shunned For U.S. Shale, Sails East

Exclusive: Mexico's Light Crude, Shunned For U.S. Shale, Sails East
By Jarrett Renshaw, Reuters
Dec. 31, 2014, 2:31 AM


By Jarrett Renshaw

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mexican crude oil is sailing to the U.S. East Coast at the highest rate in over a decade, according to customs data reviewed by Reuters, in a sign deepening discounts help crack open new markets as domestic shale inundates Texas.

Delta Air Lines-owned Monroe Energy received nearly 500,000 barrels of light-sour Mexican crude in September and a similar cargo in October at its 185,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. It was the refiner's first imports from Mexico since 2009, the furthest the data go back.

Monroe has received two more shipments of Olmeca crude from Pajaritos, Mexico since then, totaling some 1 million barrels, according to customs data reviewed by Reuters and available via ThomsonReuters Eikon's Crude Oil Flows system.

The recurring deliveries, the most recent on Dec. 11, suggest a new term contract with Monroe, industry sources say.

Together with separate sales of heavy and medium crude to two plants run by PBF Energy Inc, shipments of Mexican crude to the East Coast hit 38,200 barrels per day, the highest since 2004, according to the EIA figures. That represents about 3.4 percent of Mexico's total crude exports.

The new flows, which have not been previously reported, are the latest evidence of how the U.S. shale boom is changing global oil trading patterns and forcing foreign suppliers once dependent on the U.S. Gulf Coast market to seek out new customers - often by offering hefty discounts.

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