Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) is testing its new export capabilities which were first announced in June 2017. That should accelerate growth in U.S. oil exports, which reached 26% of imports in December 2017. While slightly below the October peak due to cold weather conditions boosting domestic demand, exports were still 243% higher than a year earlier. The impact on national imports should be minimal as New Orleans (LOOP’s home region) only accounted for 5% of seaborne imports in 2017 with shipments led by Penfield and MISC’s AET.