Supply Chain Research

U.S. crude oil imports hit their lowest since 1996 in the week to Feb. 23. While remarkable it is worth noting the context of February being a seasonal low for the year and the rolling three month average was down by just 6.0% year over year. The drop in shipments is due to seaborne imports from Venezuela with a 33.9% drop year over year in the month of February on a pro-rata basis resulting from newly applied sanctions. Alternative seaborne supplies from Canada, which are of a similar grade and can be used by refiners including PdVSA’s Citgo as well as Valero and Chevron and regular imp...