Crude imports to US Midwest hit new high

New York

CRUDE imports to the US Midwest increased to a record last week in anticipation of a new pipeline linking the region to Cushing, Oklahoma, the United States' supply hub.

Shipments to the region, known as Padd 2, climbed 26 per cent to 2.53 million barrels a day in the week ended Oct 3, the most in the Energy Information Administration's weekly data that began in 1990. Deliveries to the US from Canada, more than two-thirds of which enter through the Midwest, topped three million barrels a day for the first time, preliminary EIA data show.