The first nine months of 2017 have been the best in the history of the Port of Tarragona in terms of crude oil traffic

The figures for importing this product into the Port exceed the average for the last five years

This September has been one of the best months for crude oil traffic in the Port of Tarragona, with a total of 924 thousand tonnes moved, representing a growth of 61.2% over the same period last year. Regarding the accumulation of the first nine months, the increase in the traffic in this type of product was 20.6%, with a total of 7.29 million tonnes. These figures mean that the first nine months of 2017 have been the best such period for this type of traffic. Never before had the figure of 7 million tonnes been exceeded from January to September. The maximum figure was previously 6.97 million tonnes, corresponding to the first 3 quarters of 2007.

With regard to the importing of crude oil, there has been a significant growth, according to the data on how petroleum products are evolving. The figures for unloading this type of merchandise are above average, and in the months of March, May, July and September, the tonnes operated in the Port have been higher than the figures for the last five years.

If we analyse the latest data on importing crude oil into Spain, we can see that all the 2017 imports are also above the average for the last five years and that maximums have been obtained for the months of January, April, July and September.

The origin of the crude oil arriving in the Port of Tarragona is very different from that of Spanish refineries as a whole. The main country of origin for Spain is Nigeria, with 14.8%, while for Tarragona it is Russia, with 31.4%. For Spain OPEC represents 53% of the traffic, for Tarragona (framed in dark blue) around 15%.