US oil tankers resume runs to East Coast

[NEW YORK] Costly US-flagged oil tankers have resumed a once-familiar route hauling crude from the US Gulf to the East Coast, with near-record amounts of sweet Texas shale flowing to refiners in Philadelphia and New Jersey, market sources say.

Since mid-October, oil companies have redirected at least three crude-carrying Jones Act tankers to supply East Coast refineries with more than 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) of cheap domestic crude, shifting gears after concentrating the tiny fleet in intra-Gulf Coast trade for the previous six months.

The renewed shipments show how the growing glut of shale crude in the US Gulf has pushed oil companies to reroute discounted domestic oil north to some of the last US refiners who remain partly dependent on imported sweet crude.