US-Europe crude flow keeps records tumbling

Continued increases in lighter, sweeter US barrels heading across the pond have boosted gasoline supply from European refiners, but for how long can volumes keep rising?

When the US lifted a 40-year ban on crude exports back in 2015, few predicted these mostly light sweet grades would become top of European refiners’ shopping lists in a matter of years. But a decline in North Sea volumes and now the drop-off in Russian barrels has seen the US become a key exporter across the Atlantic and break new records with regularity. But the question is whether these flows have reached a peak, a plateau, or a pause before heading higher. When the ban was lifted, oil prices were below $40/bl and analysts warned much of the additional supply would stay within the US or add to the glut in the international market. But relatively quickly, the booming US shale industry found