Back To The Good Ol’ Days?
04 March 2016: In 2011, growing U.S. crude production from shale fields started to exceed domestic transportation capacity, resulting in a fall of the U.S. benchmark crude WTI at Cushing vs the international benchmark crude Brent. During this period, the refiners in PADD 1 (Petroleum Administration Defense District 1 = U.S. East Coast) switched from importing foreign crude to domestic crude that was shipped by rail and barge from inland shale fields, predominantly in the Bakken region in North Dakota. Since 2011, the spread has gradually narrowed as pipeline capacity has been added and since the lifting of the crude export ban WTI has traded more or less at parity with Brent prices. This has led to a (partial) recovery of crude imports into the region.
Download here
