Canadian tanker heads to Alaska for the first time in ten years

TThe recently expanded Trans Mountain pipeline opened up new export opportunities. The cargo of 466,000 barrels of oil left Vancouver on a tanker on October 1 and arrived in Nikisi, Alaska, 10 days later, Bloomberg reports. The shipment was headed to the Marathon-Kenai refinery and represents the first such shipment in U.S. Customs data dating back to 2014.

According to Bloomberg, only five international tanker shipments of crude oil have gone to Nikisi in the past four years, including two from Argentina this year and two from Russia in 2021, making the Canadian shipment unusual.

Expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline began earlier this year, increasing the line’s capacity and therefore exports to refineries on the US West Coast and in Asia. Tankers have left Vancouver for China, South Korea, Brunei and India, among other destinations.