Arathy Smasekhar

HOUSTON (Reuters] – In April the United States imported about 1.3 Million barrels (bpd), crude and oil fuel from Latin America. The figure is the highest since seven months.

US banned Russian oil imports in March due to the invasion of Ukraine. Purchases must stop by April 22. Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary, urged companies and other organizations to establish “friend-shoring” supply chains or buy from trustworthy countries.

Russia provided about 135,000 bpd (or 5.5%) of total imported fuel oil last year. It also contributed 155.350 bpd (29%), of that amount, according to Customs data from Refinitiv Eikon. According to data from Energy Information Administration, Russian crude oil imports reached a new record in 2021 following hurricanes that disrupted production.

In March and April, imports from Latin America of crude oil averaged around 200,000 barrels per day. This is 49% more than the 12 previous months. The data revealed that Mexico’s share in U.S. oil imports increased to 27% and 19% respectively, respectively, during March-April.

A total of 15 vessels polluted Mexican fuel oil at 159,000 bpd in Louisiana, California Texas, Texas, Florida. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:). Chevron Corp (NYSE 🙂 and Marathon Petroleum Corp [NYSE :], among other things.

Clay Seigle, an energy strategist, said “The most fascinating storyline has been Mexico’s ability to take market share from Russia.” “The U.S. has lost its market share for Russian oil fuels.”

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CRUDE SIDE

Imports to the United States of Latin American crude oil rose in April. They reached 1.34 million barrels per day, their highest levels in six years. While imports from Colombia and Argentina reached their highest levels since September 2020, purchases from Argentina grew to an all-time high of four years.

Attended the Cargoes Argentina’s Light Sweet Medanito Valero Energy Corp (NYSE 🙂 operates the Benicia refinery, California; and Phillips 66(NYSE 🙂 owns the Ferndale refinery in Washington. Par Hawaii Refining also released approximately 1,000,000 barrels of Argentina’s medium Escalante crude at its Honolulu facility.

Eric Wright, President of Par Hawaii said that oil from North America and South America met Hawaii’s requirements for crude processing. In the past, 20%-25% of Par Hawaii’s oil came from Russia.

About 1.8million barrels Colombian oil were shipped to the processors. This included PBF Energy Inc (NYSE:) Inc’s Delaware City, and Valero’s St Charles.

Colombia announced last week it will increase its oil exports from Colombia to the United States by around 40,000 barrels per year.

Phillips 66 and Marathon declined to comment. PBF, Valero, Chevron and Chevron did not reply to our comment requests.

PBF and Valero last month stated that they plan to increase their imports of Latin American feedstocks as they warn of shortages.