The last section of pipeline is assembled on the Trans Mountain expansion project, near Laidlaw, B.C., on Feb. 18.Chris Helgren/Reuters
Oil pricing agency Argus launched on Wednesday three daily price quotes for crude exported from western Canada’s newly expanded Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline amid rising demand for the oil from Asia.
The agency will assess prices of crude loaded from the TMX pipeline onto Aframax-sized tankers capable of carrying 80,000 metric tons (584,000 barrels) of oil at Vancouver’s Westridge docks, Argus said in a statement.
The new prices will cover three types of heavy crude grades, it added.
The first two groups – crude of similar quality to Cold Lake with lower acidity and crude that resembles Access Western Blend (AWB) with high acidity – are priced on free-on-board Vancouver basis. The third group consists of crude with high acidity priced on a delivered to Zhejiang, China, basis.
Between May 20 and Aug. 20, about half of the more than 300,000 barrels per day crude exported from Vancouver went to Asia with the balance going to the U.S. west coast, mostly to California, Argus said, citing Kpler data.
“Asian demand for heavy crude oil is strong,” Argus said, noting that Chinese buyers have emerged as main lifters of TMX crude over the first few months of operation.
A large percentage of the high TAN crude grades from the TMX being shipped to the Pacific Area Lightering zone (PAL), off the coast of southern California, and transferred onto Very Large Crude Carriers which then move to Asia, it added.
Most of the VLCCs headed to China while a couple have moved to India, Argus said.