The Saudi Gazette reported that Saudi Arabian Oil Company doubled the number of crude tankers booked to ship oil to the Gulf of Mexico this month.

Two people familiar with its US refinery operations said a damaged crude unit may restart in December. The tanker charters were arranged by Saudi Arabian Oil's Vela International Marine Limited unit.

The company's shipping unit booked eight very large crude carriers to load about 16 million barrels in October compared with four ships a month so far this year according to data from Athens based Optima Shipbrokers Limited.

Industry insiders said that Motiva Enterprises LLC will open the 325,000 barrels a day unit as early as the first week of December. The 600,000 barrels a day refinery in Port Arthur Texas halted the unit in June following contamination that caused cracks in stainless steel pipes. Repairs may be completed this month and testing will take place in November said the people declining to be identified because they aren't authorized to speak for the refinery.

Motiva expected to restart the unit early in 2013. The crude unit began operating in May as part of a USD 10 billion expansion that pushed the refinery's crude capacity to almost 600,000 barrels a day making it the largest in the US.

A one way journey to the US Gulf from Saudi Arabia takes about 40 days to complete according to Optima. That implies the cargoes will probably be discharged in the second or third week of December.

VLCCs hauling Middle East crude to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico are losing USD 22,840 a day according to data from the London based Baltic Exchange.

Source - The Saudi Gazette

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