A milestone was passed on Monday as the very large crude carrier Shaden departed the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) fully laden with US oil for export to China, according to Bloomberg.
Bahri’s 2017-built Shaden was chartered by China’s largest oil trader, Unipec. Its destination on this journey is Rizhao in southeastern Shandong province.
It is the first fully-laden VLCC to sail from a US port. And it is the first time a cargo of export has left LOOP, which has previously handled only imports.
The US had, in late 2015, lifted a ban on oil exports that had stood for 40 years (with exceptions for some Alaska to Asia shipments).
LOOP, America’s biggest privately-owned oil terminal, LOOP is a deep-water port in the Gulf of Mexico about 18 miles off of Port Fourchon.