Valero to ship U.S. crude to its Canadian refinery

* Valero gets license to export US crude to Quebec refinery

* BP, Shell have similar licenses due to growing US output

HOUSTON, March 12 (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp hassecured U.S. government permission to ship U.S. crude oil toCanada, joining other companies seeking to do the same in lightof rising output.

Chief Executive Bill Klesse told analysts last week that Valero has the required license from the U.S. CommerceDepartment to ship Texas crude from Corpus Christi to itsrefinery in Quebec City, and aims to do so this summer.

He said Valero's license allows the company to ship up to90,000 barrels a day for the year. Valero spokesman Bill Daydeclined on Tuesday to say specifically when this summer thecompany would begin those shipments.

Royal Dutch Shell and BP Plc both receivedsimilar export licenses last year.

Surging production from U.S. shale and tight oil plays suchas the Eagle Ford and Permian Basin in Texas and North Dakota'sBakken has increased U.S. domestic output to its highest levelsince 1995.

Some refiners, including Valero, no longer acceptlight-sweet crude imports at their U.S. Gulf Coast plantsbecause domestic production easily fills that need.

Refiners also are increasingly investing in their plants tobe able to run more of that lighter crude.

Klesse told analysts at the Bank of America Merrill LynchRefining Conference last week that the Gulf Coast isincreasingly "flooding" with U.S. output as more pipelineprojects come online to move it from Texas plays or the U.S.crude futures benchmark hub in Cushing, Oklahoma.

"There's so much oil, it's got to be moving. Our view isit's flooding the Gulf Coast," Klesse said. "We're going to takesome to Quebec."

U.S. law requires companies to get a special license toexport U.S. crude oil, and Alaska routinely exports some crude.Shipments to Canada aren't new either.

Valero's Quebec refinery now runs imported crude, andprovides refined products for Eastern Canada and the U.S. EastCoast.