Market Information
The United States is the world s largest consumer of oil, the largest importer of oil and the second largest producer of oil. In sync with the current economic expansion, oil consumption has been on the rise in the USA for a number of years. However, domestic production has been in decline due to maturing oil fields, and the result has been significant growth in crude imports.Today more than 50% of US crude consumption is coming from imports which in 1997 is estimated to be about 8 million barrels per day (mbpd). The imports are coming from four main geographical areas: the Americas (4.2 mbpd), the Middle East (1.6 mbpd), West Africa (1.3 mbpd), and the North Sea (0.4 mbpd).
The transportation of oil by sea is fairly inexpensive. The main reason for that is the economy of scale obtained through the use of large tankers. The cost of shipping crude oil from Saudi Arabia to the US Gulf in a supertanker of 250,000 tons or more typically runs around USD 1-2 per barrel. This compares to the price of the oil itself of about USD 15-25 per barrel. Had the oil been shipped in a 100,000-ton tanker instead, the cost of transportation would have increased by some 200-400%.
However, water depths on the US Gulf and Atlantic coasts are such that the super tankers are unable to come all the way in to shore to discharge. The largest tankers that can service the majority of US ports on the Gulf and East Coast are around 100,000 tdw (aframax size). These port and water restrictions are the primary drivers behind the lightering business in the United States, although the breaking of bulk cargoes also factors in. Only very few companies can economically handle a full supertanker cargo of some 2 million barrels of oil delivered at once. Regular supply of 500,000 barrels lots is more suitable for most refineries.
The optimal logistical solutions for the transportation of crude is dependent upon several factors, but quantities, distances and relative rate levels between various tanker sizes are major factors. Today we see most of the imports from the Americas being shipped in medium sized tankers that are capable of going straight to port, whilst the imports from the Middle East comes almost exclusively i supertankers that rely on ship-to-ship transfers for ultimate discharge to the refineries. For the imports from West Africa and North Sea the picture is less clear, although it is fair to say that the majority of these crudes today come in larger tankers that are dependant upon lightering.
Skaugen PetroTrans is today the leading offshore lightering company in the United States with a volume of over 1 million barrels of crude oil handled per day. This equates to about 14% of total seaborne imports of crude oil to the United States, and about 25% of all long haul crude imports (defined as crude coming from Middle East and West Africa).
The majority of SPT's lighterings take place in the US Gulf of Mexico, but the company is also involved in lighterings off the US Atlantic and Pacific Coast, as well as the Caribbean Sea,and Persian Gulf