U.S. Crude Exports Surge To All-Time Highs Amid SPR Releases
Mitsui Eyes Global LNG Deals to Power the AI Data Center Boom Alex Kimani is a veteran finance writer, investor, engineer and researcher for Safehaven.com.
Oil prices have pulled back sharply from recent highs, suggesting that the market was optimistically pricing in at least a partial reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an eventual normalization, following positive statements from the US.
According to commodity analysts at Standard Chartered, these statements were met with heavy algo-selling despite contradictory messaging from the U.S.
and Iran, with Washington maintaining its aggressive rhetoric, tightening balances and accumulating lost barrels.Brent crudefor July delivery fell 0.6% to trade at $93.73 per barrel at 13.40 pm ET, down more than $12 per barrel from Friday’s intraday high of $106.13/bbl.Oil prices remain largely headline-driven, taking direction from escalations and de-escalations of the U.S.-Iran conflict in the near term.
However, another hidden catalyst has been driving oil prices lower–surging exports.
crude and petroleum exports recently spiked to an all-time record of nearly 12.9 million barrels per day (bpd), driven by massive drawdowns from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).The rolling four-week average also hit an all-time high of 5.57mb/d for the week ended 15th May.
has effectively become the world’s last-resort crude supplier, with exports of crude alone briefly hitting a record 6.4 million bpd.
An armada of tankers continues to pull barrels toward Europe and Asia, where countries are seeking alternatives to Middle Eastern oil following the blockade at the Strait of Hormuz.
committed to releasing 172 million barrels on a loan basis, with single-week releases peaking at nearly 10 million barrels.
Data from Kplerindicatesthat approximately half of the crude released from the emergency stockpile in recent months was directly exported rather than refined domestically.
Foreign buyers, particularly in Europe and Asia, have aggressively snapped up roughly 40 to 50 percent of the crude released from the U.S.
Related: Chevron Files to Take 70% Stake in Greek Offshore Block However, there’s a clear limit to the selling spree: whereas the strategy has temporarily helped suppress extreme price spikes, analysts caution that these buffer capacities are finite.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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