Vitol has at least 350,000 metric tons (2.6 million bbl) of ultra-low-sulfur diesel or unspecified grades of gasoil on four vessels at anchor off ports in northwest Europe or Ventspils, according to the OPIS Tanker Tracker.

All were loaded from the port of Ventspils, which has emerged as the European center of Vitol’s global arbitrage strategies and distillate market plays. Vitol has the majority ownership of the Ventspils Nafta, the biggest oil products storage region in the Baltic. Ship movements from Ventspils often signal how Vitol may exploit any trading opportunities that arise from the volatile oil price.

Since chartering five ore-bulk-oil carriers in October 2014 for use as floating storage, Vitol has steadily placed large, Ventspils-loaded cargoes of 90,000-tons of diesel or gasoil on these ships for storage for periods of up to six weeks. Other tankers have also shipped cargoes from Ventspils across the Atlantic to the U.S., if arbitrage opportunities arise.

Vitol this week chartered a vessel to ship low-sulfur gasoil to the U.S. Atlantic Coast, which if it goes ahead, is a signal that it has been able to make arbitrage economics work for this type of trade, which is rarely seen. The last time these reverse arbitrage trade flows were noted was for a week or so in early January in 2016 and October 2015, with Vitol the dominant trader sending ships over.

The undisclosed vessel making this latest voyage is scheduled to arrive at Ventspils for loading on April 12, according to shipbroker reports. This would see it arrive at New York, the most likely destination, by the end of the month.

The SKS Tweed was the second-to-last of five tankers that Vitol appears to have loaded with distillates at Ventspils since late March. Since loading on April 2, the ship has been anchored just outside the Latvian port with its 90,000-ton cargo of gasoil. Another two ships, SKS Tyne and SKS Tagus, loaded in late March and are now sitting off Southwold in the U.K., a known area for floating storage of refined products.

Another large product tanker, British Eagle, which typically takes 80,000-ton cargoes, loaded refined products at Ventspils on April 4, satellite tracking data shows. The ship loaded from the same berth from where other tankers were known to load diesel cargoes. British Eagle is now signaling its next port of arrival as Falconara, Italy, in 10 days.