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InsightsBy Barry ParkerEnergy & ShippingWith “America’s Energy Renaissance” oil trade patternsare changing. The impact is far reaching, but not easily defined.Ship spotters around the Hudson River, which snakesnorth from New York towards Albany, have been abuzzsince the middle of the year when the medium range(MR) tanker Afrodite, owned by Tsakos Energy Navigation,has been sighted regularly. The 2005-built 53,000 deadweightvessel commenced a two-year charter to Irving Oil, at a rate of$16,000/day, topped off by a profit-split. The Afrodite, alongwith a sister vessel, are hauling crude oil produced in the Bakkenfields, in North Dakota. Since U.S. producers are not permittedto export crude oil, the limited quantities sent to Canadaare one exception granted by the U.S. Department of Energy.Along the U.S. Gulf Coast, around Corpus Christi /Aransas,the seascape there has also changed; tanker watchers have seenhordes of vessels lining up, waiting their turn to load cargoesof refined products destined for Europe and South America.As pipeline expansions and re-routings bring crude oil intoCorpus and Houston, inbound capacity grew by nearly 1.5Mbd in 2012 and 2013, according to RBN Consulting, basedin Houston. These consultants anticipate a further growth of1.9 Mbd in 2014 – 2015, much coming from the Eagle Fordand Permian Basins in Texas.Symptomatic of all the optimism is a move by oil traderTrafigura, which recently announced plans to spend $500 millionto increase capacity at its export docks at Corpus Christi,in conjunction with the conversion of a gas pipeline by EnergyTransfer Partners that will move 100 Kbd to the port fromEagle Ford – some 80 miles inland.Game ChangerWords like “game changer,” “tectonic shift” and “new paradigm”have all been applied to developments that were underway,albeit under the radar, in late 2009, as energy pricesratcheted upwards, following the financial upheavals of a yearearlier. Simply put, at sustained oil prices above $80/barrel,recently fine-tuned hydraulic fracturing technologies and enhancedhorizontal drilling capabilities have enabled extractionof oil and gas from “tight” rock formations including shale.The Energy Information Administration (EIA), part of theU.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) said, in a report releasedin mid November, “U.S. crude oil production averaged7.7 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in October. Monthly estimateddomestic crude oil production exceeded crude oil importsin October for the first time since February 1995, whiletotal petroleum net imports were the lowest since FebruaryMedium range tanker Afrodite has created a buzz, as it has been sighted regularly alongthe Hudson River. What’s the excitement for a 2005-built 53,000 dwt ship? It has commenceda two-year charter to Irving Oil, at a rate of $16,000/day, topped off by a profitsplit,hauling crude oil produced in the Bakken fields, in North Dakota.(Source: Tanker “AFRODITE” by Christina Sun)10 I Maritime Professional I 4Q 2013