LOOP's first VLCC beefs up US crude exports

US crude exports shot up to a 2018 high thanks to the loading of the first very large crude carrier (VLCC) out of the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port.

Crude oil exports reached just over 2 million barrels per day for the week ending 16 February, the US Energy Information Administration reported.

Exports only reached above the 2 million barrel per day mark one other time at the end of last October, thanks to a particularly wide discount for US crude oil relative to other grades.