Chevron books Aframax for TMX cargo to California

Chevron provisionally hired an Aframax to haul a cargo of crude from Vancouver, British Columbia, to the US west coast as the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) brings more oil to Canada's Pacific coast.

Chevron put the Aframax Garibaldi Spirit on subjects for a Vancouver-US west coast voyage loading from 25 May at WS125, market participants said. That rate is equivalent to $11.16/t or $1.63/bl for heavy sour Cold Lake, according to Argus data.

The US west coast historically has been the main destination for crude exported from Vancouver, with 96pc, or about 38,500 b/d, landing at ports in Washington and California in the 12 months ended 30 April, according to data from analytics firm Vortexa. Chevron purchased five cargoes from Vancouver for its 269,000 b/d refinery in El Segundo, California, during that span, most recently in February.

The 590,000 b/d TMX project began commercial service on 1 May, tripling the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline system to 890,000 b/d. The line creates a larger link from Alberta's growing oil sands production to the west coast port of Vancouver and direct access to Pacific Rim markets, where buyers are eager for heavy sour crude.

The first TMX cargo, 550,000 bl of Canadian Access Western Blend which Suncor booked on an Aframax in late April, will load between 18-24 May for June delivery in China.

PetroChina and Unipec each control an Aframax near Canada's Pacific coast that would be available to load in Vancouver in the second half of May, though those ships could also be relet to deliver crude to the US west coast.

The port of Vancouver's distance from many traditional Aframax trading routes may stretch the global fleet once TMX ramps up. The port cannot accommodate tankers larger than Aframaxes.

By Tray Swanson