Enterprise says price environment does not support crude exports

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Enterprise Product Partners LP (NYSE: EPD), among the first companies to export U.S. crude after the lifting of a decades-old ban, said on Thursday that the current oil price environment does not support significant exports.

The remarks, made during an earnings call, come a month after the Houston-based midstream company said it was providing pipeline and marine terminal services to load the first U.S. export of crude oil.

That cargo, shipped by trader Vitol SA , left for Fos, France, earlier this month.

"(With) Today's price environment, spreads do not generally support significant crude oil exports," Jim Teague, Enterprise' chief executive officer, told analysts during a fourth quarter earnings call.

Teague added, however that as the market moves out of the cycle, things will change.

"Ultimately we believe that lifting the ban will be a real positive for the U.S., will be a stabilizing influence for global oil and gas and will ultimately be very positive for Enterprise," he added.

In late December, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law a $1.8 trillion government spending and tax relief bill that included repealing the four-decade-old export ban, which barred shipments to countries other than Canada.

Since then, a number of companies have rushed to export crude, which has baffled traders because the current U.S. crude premium over brent-related crudes like West African or the North Sea has made it uneconomical for overseas refiners.

U.S. crude futures traded as much as $1.87 a barrel higher than global marker Brent last week, the most in nearly six years.

A few other cargoes have already, or will soon, leave the U.S. Gulf, including Vitol's export to Italy, and two cargoes to China and Japan.

(Reporting By Catherine Ngai; Editing by Alden Bentley)

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