ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), one of the oil and gas industry’s most outspoken supporters of crude oil exports, is considering exports of its own ultralight crude.
The company told Hart Energy on April 9 that it is considering opportunities to export its Eagle Ford Shale condensate. The company has equipment capable of refining it into a legally exportable petroleum product.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has confirmed that “processed condensate meeting certain requirements is exportable. We are confident that our Eagle Ford processed condensate is exportable,” said Andrea Urbanek, a spokeswoman for ConocoPhillips.
Urbanek said she could not speculate on when the company might export condensate.
“The approval to export this product gives us the flexibility to do so if the economics make sense,” she said.
By law, lease condensate, including lease condensate produced from tar sands, gilsonite and oil shale, is defined as crude oil. The ultralight oil can behave as a gas or liquid depending on the temperature and pressure.
However, BIS has said lease condensate that has been processed through a crude oil distillation tower is not crude oil but a petroleum product.
In the Eagle Ford, ConocoPhillips has three stabilizers capable of refining condensate with a capacity of 135,000 barrels per day (bbl/d), according to Baird Energy.
Petroleum products are subject to few export restrictions. BIS has said that companies unsure about whether their lease condensate is processed sufficiently to be considered a petroleum product may request a formal commodity classification.
In 2014, Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) and Enterprise Product Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) were issued private letter rulings by the Commerce Department to export minimally refined condensate.
Plains All American (NYSE: PAA) also has the green light to export condensate.
In February, Pioneer said it had exported a net 3,500 bbl/d of Eagle Ford condensate during second-half 2014, with significantly improved pricing compared to domestic condensate sales.
The company has contracts to export a net 7 Mbbl/d of condensate, primarily to Asia.
Ryan Lance, chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, told Congress in March that any question about whether the U.S. has enough oil and natural gas to meet domestic needs is moot.
“The unconventional resources are real, they are abundant and they are here for the long term,” he said. “Our long-held fear of impending energy shortages or concerns that future generations won't have enough energy is a holdover from a bygone era.”
Lance noted that a decade ago, when natural gas prices were above $10 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), “we could not conceive of a day when we might be exporting natural gas.”
Now prices are at $3/Mcf and have benefitted consumers and the nation.
“The same can be true for crude oil,” he said.
Contact the author, Darren Barbee, at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.
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