Trans Mountain crude quality issues may hurt flows to U.S. refiners – Reuters (NYSE:CNQ)

U.S. oil refiners are elevating issues in regards to the high quality of crude shipped on the newly accomplished Trans Mountain pipeline enlargement, warning that top vapor stress and acidity limits may deter purchases of Canadian heavy barrels, Reuters reported Wednesday.

The U.S. West Coast refining market is anticipated to be a significant outlet for Canadian heavy oil shipped on Trans Mountain however questions over crude high quality may harm demand for the barrels, which may weigh on costs or push extra oil onto rival Canadian export pipelines, in keeping with the report.

A number of West Coast refiners reportedly have expressed issues in latest weeks in regards to the preliminary volumes’ excessive sulfur content material, acidity and vapor stress, situations that might harm refining tools or enhance air air pollution, though demand has not been affected up to now.

Ten corporations and trade associations together with Canadian Pure Assets (NYSE:CNQ), Chevron (CVX) and Valero Power (VLO) have written to the Canada Power Regulator to complain about excessive vapor stress limits and have requested for the pipeline’s technical specs to be narrowed, the report mentioned.

The low value and proximity of Canadian barrels up to now have outweighed the standard issues; the vessel Aqualeader discharged ~290K barrels of crude final month at Marathon Petroleum’s (MPC) Anacortes, Washington, changing into the primary TMX cargo to reach on the U.S. west coast, and Chevron’s (CVX) El Segundo, California, and Phillips 66’s (PSX) Ferndale, Washington, refineries additionally took shipments in latest days.