Crude oil flows from the Permian Basin to the U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) rose nearly 1% in October, reaching 5.73 MMb/d — an increase of 42 Mb/d compared to September (see graph below), according to the latest monthly data from the Texas Railroad Commission. This marks the second highest level on record, just 34 Mb/d shy of the record 5.76 MMb/d posted in May 2024. That was likely driven by drawdowns of Permian hub inventories ahead of the planned 10-day outage on the Wink to Webster (W2W) pipeline in early June, which subsequently led to outbound flows falling to their lowest level since November 2023. In October, flows to Houston increased, while volumes to Nederland and Corpus Christi experienced slight declines.
Corpus Christi recorded its highest inbound flows from the Permian on record in September at 2.46 MMb/d, and October’s volumes weren’t far behind — coming in just 9 Mb/d lower at 2.45 MMb/d. With most pipelines to Corpus already operating at capacity, any further increases in Permian-to-Corpus flows will likely hinge on the Gray Oak pipeline expansion, which is set to add an additional 80 Mb/d of contracted capacity starting in April. Houston, which has benefited from Permian production growth as Corpus pipelines approach full capacity, saw volumes rise by 83 Mb/d to 2.45 MMb/d. In contrast, flows to Nederland dipped by 31 Mb/d to 830 Mb/d.
