Another problem for Russia: U.S. launches crude exports early January

A Texas energy company will load the first freely traded cargo of U.S. crude oil to be shipped overseas since the Ford administration, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Enterprise Products Partners LP said on Wednesday that during the first week of January it will load 600,000 barrels of light crude that will be bought by Vitol Group, a Dutch oil-trading titan, according to Enterprise, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The right to export oil was granted to three American companies — Peaker Energy, Enterprise Products Partners and Pioneer Natural Resources.

The oil will head to a Vitol subsidiary's refinery in Cressier, Switzerland, which supplies diesel and other fuels to Northern Europe, according to a person familiar with the matter. Vitol didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
U.S. President Barack Obama signed the legislation that lifts the 40-year-old ban on exporting U.S. crude less than a week ago. It was part of a larger federal spending bill that averted a government shutdown and offered new tax credits for renewable energy, including wind and solar.

The ban on exporting U.S. crude was put into place in 1975 in the wake of the Arab oil embargo.

As U.S. crude flows abroad, it could compete against oil pumped in Saudi Arabia, Russia and eventually Iran, it is noted.