By Sheela Tobben

(Bloomberg) — A cargo of Alaska North Slope crude is scheduled to load subsequent week aboard a foreign-flagged tanker for the primary time in additional than 30 years.

The Bahamas-flagged Tianlong Spirit, presently off the coast of California, is about to load a 136,000-ton cargo round July 25 from Alaska after which head for the Far East, based on ship monitoring and fixture information compiled by Bloomberg reveals.

“This would be the first time since the mid-1980s that a foreign-flagged ship would have loaded ANS crude for shipment,” David St. Amand, president of Navigistics Consulting in Boxborough, Massachusetts, mentioned by cellphone.

When Congress scrapped legal guidelines proscribing most American crude exports, the tip of a ban on foreign-flagged tankers transport crude from Alaska got here as a part of the package deal. That opened markets in Asia and Europe to U.S. oil, providing Alaskan producers one other vacation spot moreover the West Coast.

“BP chartered a foreign flag vessel for the transport of ANS crude for commercial and operational reasons,” BP Plc spokeswoman Dawn Patience mentioned in an e-mail. “BP will receive all the needed approvals from the State of Alaska and USCG before sailing.”

Since the 40-year ban was lifted late final 12 months, there was one ANS crude export. BP delivered a roughly 1-million barrel cargo of ANS crude to JX Nippon into Japan in June utilizing a U.S.-flagged tanker.

© 2016 Bloomberg L.P