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US crude oil exports have reached record highs as the Corpus Christi port in Texas becomes increasingly busy, with tankers carrying crude from around the world converging on the Gulf Coast to load oil amid disruption to Middle East exports caused by the US-Iran war.
Before the conflict, Corpus Christi was the world’s third-largest crude export hub, behind Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia and Basra in Iraq. Its role has grown as two major Gulf ports are largely cut off from the global energy supply chain due to Iran’s blockade of the Hormuz Strait.
Data from Kpler, cited by CNBC, show US crude exports rising to about 5.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) in April, up roughly 30% from 3.9 mbpd in February, which was described as the pre-war level.
In March, the port’s busiest month on record, and in Q1 this year, Corpus Christi also recorded its busiest quarter, according to CEO Kent Britton.
“Ships in and out of the port are non-stop,” Britton said.
Kpler data cited in the report indicate that Corpus Christi accounted for about half of US crude exports in April, with Houston handling the remainder.
Around 50–60 VLCCs are reportedly on their way to US ports each day, double last year’s level, with each vessel carrying up to 2 million barrels of crude. Many of these ships originate from Asian countries that previously imported Middle Eastern crude before the war, according to Matt Smith, head of base metals research at Kpler. With Hormuz’s trade route still blocked, the vessels are redirecting to the US Gulf Coast.
Smith said the Asian market is buying any available oil, adding that buyers are “aggressively” purchasing US light sweet crude.
In addition to crude, Corpus Christi has seen a rise in exports of refined products derived from crude to the Middle East. Britton said that in Q1 this year, the volume of these products exported from Corpus Christi to the Middle East was higher than last year’s total.
Analysts caution that the redirection of tanker traffic toward the US Gulf Coast may be a wartime stopgap rather than a permanent shift away from Middle Eastern crude.
Smith noted that US light sweet crude is not a perfect substitute for Middle Eastern sour crude because many Asian refineries are designed to process sour crudes.
On overall export limits, the report says US exports are unlikely to exceed around 5 mbpd due to port capacity constraints. Corpus Christi’s export capacity is described as topping out at about 2.6 mbpd because of pipeline limitations. Britton said that if the port’s pipeline system were expanded, it could handle an additional 0.5 mbpd.
Smith argued that during this period the US, Latin America, and West Africa could increase supply to Asia, but the Middle East remains a large supplier that cannot be displaced. He said that before the war, about 20% of global oil consumption passed through the Hormuz Strait.
“That is a gap that cannot be filled. The solution to the problem remains restoring supply from the Middle East,” Smith said.
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