Over 220,000 barrels of sour crude oil was delivered from the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port in December, LOOP has reported.
LOOP sour crude deliveries have averaged 476,250 barrels per month in 2020 but have fluctuated wildly as the coronavirus pandemic has rattled global oil demands, changing the supply and demand balance, S&P Global Platts reports.
Deliveries of the grade, which consists of a blend of Poseidon, Mars and Basrah, Kuwaiti and Arab Medium crudes, hit zero for the first time on record in April and were again reported at zero in June, S&P Global Platts reports. However, as a sign of the volatility in deliveries this year, in July, LOOP sour deliveries hit 1.45 million barrels, the most since January 2019 when deliveries hit just under 1.52 million barrels for the month.
An active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season suppressed offshore Gulf of Mexico crude output by an average of 120,000 b/d in 2020, the most since 2008, far exceeding the annual average of 20,000 b/d over the last decade, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics.
