OIL EXPORTS TO U.S. JUMP WITH LINE 3 STARTUP

Canadian oil shipments to the U.S. jumped to the highest volume since the start of the year thanks in part to the startup of a long-delayed pipeline project. Weekly oil deliveries reached 4.04 million barrels day, the most since January, according to the Energy Information Administration. It’s only the third time the U.S. has imported more than 4 million barrels a day of Canadian crude since the agency began compiling weekly data in 2010. It’s likely these increased flows will be the new norm mainly because of the expanded Line 3, said Elisabeth Murphy, ESAI Energy LLC upstream analyst for North America. Weekly volumes should start to average near 3.7 million to 3.8 million bpd, from current levels of 3.5 million. Last week, Enbridge Inc. started its new Line 3 crude pipeline after years of delays.