Saudi Aramco’s unit said to have sent first US oil shipment to UAE

Aramco Products Trading Co. (ATC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, has started supplying US condensate to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Reuters reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.

Saudi Aramco’s Motiva Enterprises unit in the United States was used as a supply source for two shipments to the UAE.

On May 12, the first shipment of 1 million barrels (bbl) of US condensate aboard the tanker ‘Astra’ was unloaded at Ruwais, sources said.

The other 1 million bbl of condensate shipment was supplied by the tanker ‘South Sea’ from the US Gulf to Ruwais for nearly $2 million.

Both vessels are ‘Suezmax’ tankers, with capacities from 120,000-200,000 deadweight tons.

Motiva, which operates a 603,000-barrel-per-day refinery at Port Arthur, Texas, and ATC were not available for comment.

ATC’s move comes as part of the oil giant’s strategy outlined last month.

“ATC has started supplying some condensate from West to the East. It started only a few weeks back, slowly, but we will have to make sure that there is an economic sense for us for crude trading,” Saudi Aramco’s chief executive officer, Amin Nasser, said last month.