OREANDA-NEWS. US independent oil company Hess exported a cargo of Bakken crude to a refinery in Europe.

Hess sold 175,000 bl of Bakken crude for export, the company said. The oil was loaded in St James, Louisiana, in early April and is being transported by the buyer to a European refinery.

Hess would not release further details, including the name of the buyer, the vessel or the destination refinery.

The estimated premium for Bakken crude delivered to St James, Louisiana, by rail over Light Louisiana Sweet (LLS) crude has averaged nearly $7/bl in April to-date, making it unlikely that the North Dakota shale crude was shipped to Louisiana on a spot basis. Hess operates a unit train loading terminal in Tioga, North Dakota, and other Bakken midstream assets as a joint venture with Global Partners.

Crude exports have been slow to take off since the December lifting of the US crude export ban. Most cargoes have consisted of light sweet crude, but Sunoco Logistics in February loaded a 500,000 bl cargo of a Gulf coast sour blend at Nederland, Texas, according to ship tracking service ClipperData.

In addition, ExxonMobil said last week it exported crude from initial well testing in the offshore Julia field in the US Gulf of Mexico. Commissioning activities are under way to support the startup of the Julia field in the second quarter of 2016, ExxonMobil said. That cargo was transported aboard a Panamax tanker, the PGC Marina, [which anchored off Rotterdam today].