Canada to deliver first crude oil in a decade to Alaska

A tanker carrying Canadian crude oil has departed Vancouver for Alaska for the first time in at least a decade.

According to Vortexa tanker tracking data, the cargo left Vancouver on Oct. 1, delivering 466,000 barrels of oil, and arrived in Nikisi, Alaska, 10 days later.

It was the first such shipment recorded in U.S. customs data since 2014. Vortexa analyst Rohit Rathod said the oil was destined for the Marathon Kenai refinery.

The move follows a recent expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which can now carry about 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The pipeline, which carries oil from Canada’s oil sands to a port near Vancouver, began expanding its operations earlier this year.

Since then, the tankers have left Vancouver for several countries, including China, South Korea, Brunei, and India, greatly expanding Vancouver’s export potential.

Previously, most crude oil was shipped from Vancouver to California or Washington state in the south.

The trip to Alaska is significant not only because the crude comes from Canada but also because of the shortage of international tanker traffic to Nikisi.

Only five such cargoes have occurred in the past four years, two from Argentina this year and two from Russia in 2021.