Overview
In a world of rising US production and OPEC output cuts, we assess how the world's crude slate will change over the coming years.
Global crude trade is going through a rapid transformation. US crude exports have taken the world by storm in the past 12 months. The US has broken into the world’s top 10 crude exporters already, and will soon move into the top 5. As production in US tight oil production continues to grow, terminal operators in the US Gulf Coast have been expanding export capabilities to meet growing export demand.
Global seaborne trade as a result is ramping up, projections of crude tonne miles show sustained growth over the next decade.
Whilst light sweet crudes dominate growth in the short term, the world is being presented by a changing crude slate; one that is getting lighter and sweeter by the day.
FGE’s latest Crude Trade Study both identifies and examines the trends in global crude production by addressing the production outlook for over 400 crude streams across the globe, vs. crude demand across all regions. In addition, this study also identifies the likely changes in global crude trade by region, and analyses the impact on global seaborne crude trade, tonne miles, and crude tanker demand. Finally, we assess the outlook of global crude quality and the availability of crude oil by API and sulphur content.