Crude oil shipments from the US' top oil-exporting hub have plunged 35 percent since Q1. This summer, more declines expected.
Even as crude prices plunged to record lows, the level of activity at throughout much of the Gulf Coast and
the Port of Corpus Christi in Texas were buoyed for a while by preexisting contracts and hedged oil prices.
From a record-high average of 1.7 million b/d in Q1, crude exports from the Port of Corpus Christi fell down to about 1.1 million b/d last week. US crude exports the week ending May 8 averaged 3.53 million b/d, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Over the past two weeks, analytics data showed exports from Corpus Christi and Ingleside have averaged at roughly 1 million b/d. Both on and offshore, US producers are storing more crude longer term and shutting in production.
Global oil demand has plunged by as much as 30 percent in April and even as the arbitrage remains open, crude exports were expected to eventually feel an impact.
There are still ample places to store or ship crude along the USGC although the Cushing, Oklahoma, crude storage hub is at more than 80 percent capacity and mostly contracted up. Currently, more crude tanks are being built. The Port of Corpus Christi hasn't yet hit 70 percent capacity.
