Mozambique to receive US petrol in rare shipment

Cheap petrol from a supply glut along the US Gulf Coast has reopened far-flung markets including Australia and Mozambique to exports of the US fuel.

US petrol demand at the end of December fell to the lowest in a year. Stocks in PADD 3 along the Gulf Coast were up 9.5% over a year earlier at the end of last month as refiners cranked up production after fall maintenance outages.

A cargo of US gasoline was expected to unload at Mozambique in coming days.

Vessel STI Mighty carried about 170,000 barrels of gasoline from Houston to Beira in Mozambique and was expected to discharge this week.

That marked the first petrol shipment to Mozambique in four years.

"US Gulf Coast gasoline is very cheap right now," a Singapore-based gasoline trader said.

"This could be an opportunistic trade," the trader added.