Tainted oil from the US makes its way to Asia

San Francisco

ONE million barrels of oil. Enough to fill more than 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools. And there it sat in tanks outside San Francisco - for three years - despite crude prices that topped US$100 a barrel. This isn't the prized "light, sweet" kind of crude that is pumped out of the ground in Texas, or even the thick, sticky stuff from Alberta's tar sands. Rather, it's what's known as "orphaned oil" that is so contaminated with organic chlorides that it can corrode the insides of even the biggest refineries.

Now, it's on the move - and guessing exactly where is turning into a sort of parlour game for some in the oil market. All that is known is that Chevron Corp, which flushed the oil from a pipeline in September 2012 and has seen its value drop by US$50 million since then, is loading it onto two tankers bound for Asia.