A BP chartered vessel will become the first foreign-flagged vessel to be loaded with a cargo of Alaskan crude in three decades.
According to ship tracking data seen by Bloomberg, the Bahamas-flagged Tianlong Spirit is expected to be loaded with a 136,000 ton cargo of Alaskan North Slope Crude on July 25.
The ship will then travel to an unspecified location in the Far Wast.
President of Navigistics Consulting David St. Amand told Bloomberg that the cargo will mark the first time since the mid-1980s that a foreign-flagged vessel has been loaded with a North Slope crude shipment.
Last last year, U.S. Congress voted to repeal a 40-year-old ban on exporting domestically produced crude.
The ban was first enacted in response to the Arab Oil Embargo in 1975.
U.S. producers can now export light, sweet crude to international markets where refineries are better equipped to handle sweet crude.
As part of the repeal, U.S. producers are also now permitted to ship Alaskan crude using foreign-flagged vessels.
“Ending the decades-old ban on crude exports is a huge win for consumers, jobs, the economy and our energy security. We are bolstering America’s status as an energy superpower. U.S. producers will now be able to compete in the global oil market and consumers will reap the benefits,” American Petroleum Institute President and CEO Jack Gerard said when the ban was repealed.
