Variety of Crudes Seen Filling Gap Left by Prudhoe Bay Outage

With crude production from Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay field down indefinitely, and tight supplies of short-haul Latin American crudes, typical Alaska North Slope crude buyers may have to seek crudes from as far away as West Africa or Asia to fill the void on the US West Coast, market sources said August 7.

“California may have problems,” Standard & Poor’s Chief Economist David Wyss said. “The entire West Coast could be in trouble.”