Viewpoint: US tariffs may push more Canadian crude east

Market: Crude oil
26/12/24

Canada may divert crude supplies from the US to Asia-Pacific via the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline in 2025, should president-elect Donald Trump impose tariffs on Canadian imports.

Trump has declared that he will implement a 25pc tax on all imports originating from Canada after he is sworn into office on 20 January. This will effectively add around $16/bl to the cost of sending Canadian crude to the US, based on current prices, and impel US refiners to cut their purchases. The US imported 4.57mn b/d of Canadian crude in September, according to data from the EIA.

Canadian crude producers are expected to turn to Asian refiners in their search for new export outlets. This is especially after Asian refiners gained easier access to such cargoes following the start-up of the 590,000 b/d TMX pipeline in May. The new route significantly shortens the journey to ship crude from Canada to Asia. It takes about 17 days for a voyage from Vancouver to China, compared with 54 days from the US Gulf coast to the same destination. China has become the main outlet for Asia-bound shipments from Vancouver, accounting for about 87pc of the 200,000 b/d exported over June-November, according to data from oil analytics firms Vortexa and Kpler (see chart).

But even if the full capacity of the TMX pipeline is utilised to export crude to Asia from Vancouver, it will still only represent a fraction of current Canadian crude exports to the US. Vancouver sent just 154,000 b/d via the TMX pipeline to US west coast refiners over June-November, Vortexa and Kpler data show. Meanwhile, latest EIA figures show more than 2.63mn b/d of Canadian crude was piped into the US midcontinent in September, while US Gulf coast refiners imported 469,000 b/d.

This means Canadian crude prices will likely come under downward pressure from higher costs for its key US market, should Trump's proposed tariffs come to pass. This will further incentivise additional buying from Chinese customers, as well as other refiners based elsewhere in Asia-Pacific. India, South Korea, Japan, and Brunei have already imported small volumes of Canadian TMX crude in 2024.

A question of acidity

But other Asian refiners have so far been reluctant to step up their heavy sour TMX crude imports because of concerns over the high acidity content.

China has been mainly taking Access Western Blend (AWB), which has a total acid number (TAN) as high as 1.6mg KOH/g. Acid from high-TAN crude collects in the residue at the bottom of refinery distillation columns where it can corrode units, which deters many refineries from processing such grades. But Chinese refiners have been able to dilute the acidity level by blending their AWB cargoes with light sweet Russian ESPO Blend, allowing them to save costs compared to buying medium sour crude from the Mideast Gulf.

Cold Lake, the other grade coming out of the TMX pipeline, has a lower TAN and is currently popular with refiners on the US west coast. But higher costs from potential tariffs could prompt Cold Lake exports to be redirected from the US to buyers in South Korea, Japan, and Brunei — which had all bought the grade previously.

Canadian crude appears to have so far displaced medium sour grades in Asia-Pacific, and this trend is expected to continue should TMX crude flows to the region climb higher in 2025. More Canadian crude heading to Asia may displace and free up more Mideast Gulf medium sour supplies to buyers in other regions, including US refiners looking for replacements to their Canadian crude imports. This will also limit the flows of other arbitrage grades like US medium sour Mars crude to Asia-Pacific, which has already seen exports to Asia dwindle in 2024. Opec+ is also due to begin unwinding voluntary production cuts in April 2025, which means Canadian producers will likely have to lower prices sufficiently to attract buyers from further afield.

By Fabian Ng

TMX exports from Vancouver (b/d)

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