Alaska Pipe Closure May Draw Oman, Russia Oil to U.S. - BusinessWeek

Alaska’s pipeline closure may force U.S. West Coast refiners to purchase crude supplies from Oman and Russia to make up a shortfall in supplies, pushing Middle East benchmark prices higher, Societe Generale SA said.

The main grades to replace the lost Alaska North Slope crude oil will probably come from the two areas, Michael Wittner, a London-based analyst with Societe Generale, said in a report yesterday.

“If refiners, after waiting a couple more days, feel that they need to obtain alternative crude supplies because the restart appears to be slipping, they would have to increase imports,” Wittner said. “For this to happen, the main market impact would not be on WTI or even Brent. Instead, Dubai would strengthen relative to both Brent and WTI, in order to make the arbitrage economically feasible.”