Refiners Seek Jones Act Workarounds as Crude Export Debate Heats Up
As the first U.S. oil condensate exports head to Asia from the Gulf Coast, crude producers and refiners are exploring ways to get around a century-old law that makes it three times more expensive to ship by water between U.S. ports than to sail to a foreign port. The Jones Act, originally passed to protect the U.S. maritime industry, restricts passage between U.S. ports to ships that are U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged and U.S.-crewed. If oil exports pick up pace while the Jones Act is left in place, U.S.
Jones Act Tanker Chartered for Airline Refinery
Delta Air Lines Inc's refining unit has chartered a U.S.-flagged oil tanker for the first time, allowing it to tap directly into cheap Texas shale oil as the company overhauls its supply strategy. Monroe Energy LLC, the Delta subsidiary that runs the airline's 165,000 barrel per day (bpd) Trainer refinery, has time-chartered the 330,000-barrel MR Seabulk Arctic, a Jones Act vessel built in 1998, for two years beginning in August, according to sources familiar with the deal. A Delta spokesman confirmed the charter but provided no further details. It has an option to switch to a newly build ship in 2016 for an additional three years. Seabulk Tankers Inc…
Crude Oil Spill in Delaware River: Boom Deployed
Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay watchstanders received notification of the spill at approximately 1 p.m. Monday (local time) after the National Response Center informed of an estimated 1,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Delaware River near Monroe Energy LLC, located about one mile south of the Commodore Barry Bridge. A boom is deployed to contain the oil while responders use skimmers and vacuums to remove the oil from the water. A pollution response team from Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay is on scene to verify safe and thorough cleanup operations.
