New Colombian Crude Whets Appetite of US Refiners
The United States has started to import small batches of Colombia's Puerto Bahia heavy crude, an unusual development that underscores at least a temporary shift in the type of heavy oil flowing into U.S. refineries. Typically, U.S. refineries have received their heavy oil from Canada, Venezuela and Mexico. But shipments of those grades have been limited by Canada wildfires, and slipping output in Mexico and Venezuela. The first shipment of the Colombian heavy crude arrived at Lake Charles, Louisiana in February co-loaded with Vasconia crude for refiner Phillips 66, followed by a 260,000-barrel cargo in March for the same customer, according to sources and data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Ecopetrol Seeks Diluent Naphtha Cargo for July
Colombia's state-run Ecopetrol has launched a tender to buy a 170,000-180,000 barrel cargo of diluent naphtha to be received on July 10-18 at the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Caribbean or Barranquilla port, according to a document seen by Reuters on Monday. The oil company this month bought several cargoes of gasoline, ultra low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) and jet fuel while its 80,000 barrel per day (bpd) Cartagena refinery undergoes a big expansion project to double its crude distillation capacity. For this tender, the company will receive bids until Tuesday and they must be indexed to natural gasoline prices at Mont Belvieu, the invitation says. Colombia has two refineries, Cartagena and Barrancabermeja, with more than 300,000 bpd of joint capacity. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga)
