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Bretana crude, a niche oil from Peru, is gaining popularity in the US

Posted to Maritime Reporter on January 14, 2025

Bretana crude, a niche oil from Peru, is becoming increasingly popular in the United States. The first cargo was discharged in the U.S. Gulf Coast last month. U.S. refiners are looking for alternatives to Mexican heavy crude.

Bretana is a heavy sweet crude oil with minimal metals that's produced on the Peruvian side. The crude is barged up the Amazon River and loaded on larger ships departing from Brazil.

Ship tracking data from Kpler & LSEG revealed that the vessel Radiant Pride discharged about 300,000 Bretana barrels from Manaus on the banks the Negro River in Brazil on Jan. 2, and then returned to Houston.

A source confirmed that Shell had purchased the cargo. Shell declined to make any comment.

Matt Smith, analyst at Kpler, said: "Given that heavy sour oil from Mexico has been dropping to the U.S. Gulf Coast in the past year, it is no surprise to us that new heavy grades are being brought in to make up for this loss. We expect this trend to continue."

U.S. exports to Mexico dropped to their lowest level ever in 2024, as oil production declined and more of the country's output was refined at home.

Kpler data revealed that two cargoes of Peru’s Bretana – a relatively new player on the market, since production started in 2018 – were discharged last year at terminals along the U.S. West Coast – one at Marathon Petroleum, and the other at PBF Energy.

Marathon Petroleum declined comment. PBF Energy didn't immediately respond to a comment request.

PetroTal Corp., which owns Block 95, where the Bretana Oilfield is located in Canada, purchased the assets from Gran Tierra Energy, a Canadian company, in 2017. According to Manuel Zuniga, Chief Executive Officer, they currently produce about 20,000 barrels per day.

Zuniga stated that the difficulties in transporting crude oil via a pipeline run by Peru's Petroperu state oil company led to a temporary halt of exports from 2022-2024.

Petroperu struggled to maintain the line's flow in recent years, despite spillages and social conflicts.

Kpler data revealed that between 2020 and 2022 three cargoes of Bretana will be heading to the U.S. West Coast, and one to the U.S. East Coast.

Zuniga stated that about 90% of the Bretana oil produced by PetroTal was exported and the remainder is transported via barges to Petroperu’s refinery at Iquitos.

Zuniga said that PetroTal had a contract with Houston's Novum Energy, under which Novum purchases crude oil for export and arranges transportation.

A request for comment from Novum was not immediately responded to.

Zuniga stated that while PetroTal hopes for an increase in production, the current limitations are barges and delays with permits.

Zuniga added that the company was working to ensure the use of the infrastructure.

Petroperu announced last year that it will negotiate with producers to cover the costs of operating the pipeline. (Reporting from Arathy S. Somasekhar in Houston and Marianna P. Parraga in Lima, with additional reporting by Marco Aquino; editing by Will Dunham.)

(source: Reuters)

Tags: Transportation North America Europe Western Europe South America

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