Asian oil traders' move to Texas spells trouble for Opec

Tokyo

AS US lawmakers debate whether to free up more than the tiny amount of oil output currently eligible for export, buyers from Asia are moving in.

Mitsui & Co, Japan's second biggest trader, has doubled employees relocated to Houston to 50 over the past two years while Tokyo-based Cosmo Oil Co opened an office in the oil hub in April and South Korea's SK Innovation Co is bolstering its presence in the region. They are now limited to buying a product called condensate, an ultra-light oil that accounts for about 8 per cent of US output, but are positioning themselves to purchase more if Congress ends export restrictions.

Their move into Houston illustrates the challenge for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) as the highest American output in more than three decades lures the group's traditional customers and benchmark prices tumble. Opec members are responding by offering the deepest discounts in more than a decade, spar…