據海事新聞7月2日消息稱，盡管美國原油出口因疫情影響全球燃料需求而下滑，但路易斯安那州近海石油港（LOOP）的原油出口創歷史新高。

石油巨頭荷蘭殼牌石油公司和英國石油公司是LOOP原油出口增長的主要贏家，因為它們從該終端出口了大量中酸原油。

LOOP公司主要運輸的是Mars原油，這是一種中酸級別的石油，產自Mars平臺，該平臺位于距離新奧爾良海岸130英里(210公里)的地方，是由殼牌和英國石油公司的合資企業。殼牌拒絕置評，而英國石油沒有回應置評請求。

美國能源情報署的數據顯示，加工Mars的美國墨西哥灣沿岸煉油廠將煉油量削減了20%以上。世界各地的煉油廠紛紛減產，以應對冠狀病毒封鎖導致的需求大幅下降。今年到目前為止，最大的消費市場美國的需求較去年下降了12%。

相反，那些Mars原油將流向亞洲，在亞洲，通常加工大量類似中東原油的煉油商需要取代自4月份開始的創紀錄減產令歐佩克不再供應的石油。

能源市場數據公司Genscape的數據顯示，截止6月26日，LOOP出口從2月的102209桶增至420345桶/天，為原來的四倍。Genscape表示，同期美國其他碼頭的原油出口量下降了21%，至每天231萬桶。

曹海斌 摘譯自 海事新聞

LOOP Crude Exports Surge Surprisingly

Crude exports from the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) are hitting a record high even as U.S. crude exports have fallen as the coronavirus pandemic has chopped worldwide fuel demand.

Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc are the main winners from rising LOOP exports, because they pump most of the mid-sour crude exported from the terminal.

LOOP largely ships out Mars crude, a medium-sour grade of oil produced from the Mars platform, a joint venture of majority-owner Shell and BP, located about 130 miles (210 km) off the coast of New Orleans. Shell declined comment, while BP did not respond to a request for comment.

Refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast that process Mars have cut refining runs by more than 20%, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Refineries worldwide have cut output to match the sharp fall in demand caused by coronavirus lockdowns. Demand in top consumer the United States is down 12% so far this year versus last year.

Those Mars barrels are instead going to Asia, where refiners that normally process high volumes of similar Middle Eastern crude need to replace oil that OPEC is no longer supplying under record supply cuts that started in April.

LOOP exports quadrupled to 420,345 barrels per day (bpd) by June 26, the latest available date, from 102,209 bpd in February, according to data from energy markets data company Genscape. U.S. crude exports from other terminals declined 21% over the same period to 2.31 million bpd, Genscape said.