U.S. refineries are increasingly turning to rare crude oil grades from Latin America to fill the void left by falling imports from Mexico, according to vessel-tracking data.
Last year, U.S. crude imports from Mexico dropped to their lowest levels in decades, based on data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Mexico’s state-run oil company, Pemex, has faced a decline in production. Additionally, more crude is being kept for domestic refining at a new refinery that was built under the direction of former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
As Mexico’s output and exports to the U.S. decline, U.S. refiners are sourcing heavier crude from South America, according to tanker-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG, as reported by Reuters.
One of the rarer crude types is Bretaña, a heavy sweet oil with low metal content, produced in Peru’s Amazon region and transported along the Amazon River for export from Brazil. This grade has gained traction among U.S. buyers, industry sources told Reuters.
A shipment of Bretaña from the Brazilian port of Manaus recently arrived in Houston. The tanker Radiant Pride delivered around 300,000 barrels of Bretaña on January 2, based on the ship-tracking data from Reuters.
Bretaña also arrived on the U.S. West Coast last year, with cargoes unloading at terminals owned by Marathon Petroleum and PBF Energy, according to data from Kpler.
Kpler analyst Matt Smith commented on the trend, stating, “With the drop in heavy sour crude from Mexico to the U.S. Gulf Coast in the past year, we are now seeing new heavy grades being imported to fill this gap. We expect this trend to continue.”
Related Topics:
- Standard Chartered: U.S. Oil Production Growth Set to Slow in 2025
- Crude Oil Prices Reach Three-Week High Amid Concerns Over Supply Growth
- Oil Price Outlook: WTI Climbs into 2025 as Bulls Aim for a Breakthrough