2018.05.2900:08:00UTC+00Record U.S. Crude Volumes Affect Russia, OPEC Market Share in Asia

Record crude oil volumes will be exported by the U.S. to Asia in the following months to bite into Russia and OPEC's market share in the region.

The U.S. is slated to export 2.3 million bpd in June, 1.3 million bpd of which will be exported to Asia, according to an estimate by a senior executive with a key U.S. oil exporters.

Data from the EIA show U.S. oil exports reached 2.6 million bpd last two weeks.

The historically high level of outbounds volumes come as U.S. crude production reached all-time highs, weighing down U.S. prices to discounts of over $9 per barrel below crude futures on Monday, the widest in over three years and opening an arbitrage for surplus supplies to other markets.

The spread between the key benchmarks gave a change for Asian refiners to lower light crude imports from the Middle East and Russia after Brent and Gulf prices hit multi-year highs, according to traders in Asia.

In Asia, China is the biggest importer of U.S. crude. The imports are led by Sinopec, the region's biggest refiner. The firm, after cutting Saudi imports, has purchased a record 16 million barrels of U.S. crude, to load in June, according to sources.

India and South Korea are the next biggest lifters in Asia, importing 6 million to 7 million barrels in June respectively , sources monitoring U.S. crude sales to Asia said. Indian Oil Corp purchased 3 million barrels earlier this month via a tender, while Reliance Industries bought up to 8 million barrels, the sources said.