U.S. imports of crude oil from Canada rose last week to its highest on record, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday, buoyed by the startup of the newly expanded Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline.
Imports rose by 807,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 4.4 million bpd in the week to July 12, the largest gain since March 2023, according to the data.
The $24.84 billion (C$34 billion) Trans Mountain expansion started operations in May and has nearly tripled shipping capacity to Canada’s Pacific Coast to 890,000 bpd.
Most of the oil being shipped via the Trans Mountain pipeline is being snapped up by U.S. West Coast refiners, while some have also headed to Asia.
Overall U.S. Gulf Coast imports, however, edged down by 140,000 bpd to 1.1 million bpd last week as Hurricane Beryl shut in major ports in the region. Draft restrictions for vessels once the port reopened also limited imports.
Exports also dropped by 35,000 bpd to about 4 million bpd last week, also constrained by port closures and restrictions.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston Editing by Marguerita Choy)