OREANDA-NEWS. ConocoPhillips Jones Act tanker Polar Endeavour departed today from the Port of Valdez, Alaska, for the 775,000 b/d GS Caltex refinery in Yeosu, South Korea.

The cargo, which is expected to arrive 5 May, will be the only the second Alaskan North Slope (ANS) shipment exported in the last 10 years. ANS is exempt from the effective US crude export ban.

Two Jones Act vessels also departed this month from Valdez for Hawaii to feed that state's 147,500 b/d of refining capacity. BP Jones Act vessel Alaskan Legend departed 14 April for Honolulu, and is expected to arrive 24 April. BP Jones Act vessel Alaskan Navigator departed 5 April for Honolulu and arrived 14 April.

The discount for ANS crude to calendar month average (CMA) Ice Brent reached \$4.50/bl during April trade, the deepest discount since December trade.

A total of 108,000 b/d of crude distillation unit (CDU) capacity in Padd 5 was scheduled to be offline in April, according to the EIA, down from 120,116 b/d in March. In addition, Tesoro's 168,000 b/d Golden Eagle refinery in Martinez, California, only began to resume production this week after shutting down in February. The facility closed after members of the United Steelworker (USW) employees union went on strike during the final stages of a major turnaround.

ConocoPhillips, the largest ANS producer, last exported an ANS cargo to the GS Caltex Yeosu refinery in the fourth quarter of 2014, breaking a 10-year hiatus on ANS exports. Chevron is a 50pc shareholder in GS Caltex.

ConocoPhillips Jones Act tanker Polar Discovery left Valdez on 26 September and arrived at Yeosu on 11 October.

The ANS discount reached \$4.90/bl during October 2014 trade as Ecuadorean exports climbed to 12.83mn bl from 12.38mn bl in September. Ecuador's 110,000 b/d Esmeraldas refinery remained offline in October for a modernization project, pushing additional volume into the export market.

The ANS discount to CMA Ice Brent has remained between \$3.29-\$2.64/bl during June trade, which began 10 April.