OREANDA-NEWS. ExxonMobil's crude cargo from the offshore Julia field in the US Gulf has reached Rotterdam.

The cargo — the product of initial well-testing at Julia — was transported aboard a Panamax tanker, the PGC Marina, which anchored off Rotterdam this morning. The PGC Marina has a capacity of 81,520m?, equivalent to around 500,000 bl.

The cargo is the first of US offshore-produced crude since the US lifted its long-standing crude export ban last December.

Commissioning activities are under way to support the start-up of the Julia field in the second quarter of 2016, ExxonMobil said. ExxonMobil and its partner, Norway's state-controlled Statoil, developed the Julia field as a tie-back to the Chevron-operated Jack and St Malo developments. The initial phase was planned to have 34,000 b/d of production.