Things are slowing down at the U.S.’s largest oil-import hub, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port. As Bloomberg reports, just six years after importing more than 1 million barrels a day from countries including Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Iraq, the LOOP is receiving just half of that from overseas, highlighting a nationwide trend at harbors from Mississippi to Pennsylvania.
What’s more, with U.S. output soaring to a 31-year high, neighboring Texas has become the port’s second-biggest supplier.
“U.S. oil production has significantly changed the flows of oil around the world, and LOOP is at the fulcrum,” says Jamie Webster, head of global oil markets at IHS Inc. “We’re now essentially receiving nothing from Nigeria. This is a huge change. I’m an oil markets man and not an economist, but in general, this is a big stimulus” for the U.S.
Oil that the U.S. once imported now floods world markets, driving down prices 28% since June. The shift is being felt 20 miles off the Louisiana coast at the LOOP. Built in 1981, it’s the only U.S. port that can unload the world’s largest supertankers.
Shipments into the port peaked in 2005 at 1.18 million barrels a day, according to Louisiana state records. Imports have fallen to 510,000 barrels a day this year, and since May the port has received more oil from Texas than any country other than Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. Customs district in Morgan City, where the LOOP’s barrels are tallied, had 46% less petroleum import tonnage in September than the year before, according to Datamyne Inc. Read the full story.
