NorthAmOil: Canadian crude shipped to Asia via California

A potentially cheaper journey for heavy oil sands crude is from British Columbia to Asia via California, reported Bloomberg. This is because only smaller tankers can dock in Vancouver, where the crude is transported from the oil sands by the newly expanded Trans Mountain pipeline.

Almost 3mn barrels have been shipped from British Columbia to China or India since the pipeline expansion started operating on May 1. The expansion tripled the egress of oil from Alberta to a port.

More than 55% of the 3mn barrels were shipped to Asia via Southern California, which can accommodate the docking of very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, said Bloomberg, citing Vortexa ship tracking data. The journey is however longer than if it were direct from Vancouver.