NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - A second supertanker ladenwith U.S. crude set sail in March from the Louisiana OffshoreOil Port (LOOP), the largest privately owned crude terminal inthe United States, the company said in a statement late onTuesday:
* The very large crude carrier (VLCC), Nave Photon, waschartered by Houston-based Shell Trading Company US andthe cargo was headed for Asia, according to market sourcesfamiliar with the matter and Reuters vessel tracking data.
* It was not immediately clear which grade of U.S. crude wasbeing exported.
* A spokesman for LOOP did not immediately respond to arequest for comment.
* Last month, LOOP completed the first VLCC crude oilloading operation at its deepwater port.
* The first vessel that loaded was also charted by Shell,LOOP said, and the vessel that loaded the crude oil for exportwas the Saudi Arabian-flagged "Shaden," traders said, thoughthis could not be confirmed with LOOP.
* LOOP is the only U.S. port currently capable of fullyloading a VLCC, the largest oil tankers which can ship some 2million barrels of oil.
* The U.S. lifted a 40-year ban on oil exports just over twoyears ago, and since then tankers filled with U.S. crude havelanded in more than 30 countries.
* U.S. crude futures' discount to Brent <WTCLc1-LCOc1>widened to as much as $5.22 per barrel on Wednesday, the biggestsince Jan. 24, opening up arbitrage opportunities, whicheffectively make it cost-effective to ship U.S. crude to foreignmarkets.(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York and Florence Tanin SingaporeEditing by Marguerita Choy)
