Crude oil trading dynamics in West Texas and along the Texas Gulf Coast have experienced a whirlwind of change. Permian production was skyrocketing in 2018, but has now started to slow. It seemed for a time that crude takeaway pipeline capacity wouldn’t get built fast enough; now it looks like we’ll have far too much too soon. And along the coast, the once-overlooked Port of Corpus Christi is quickly becoming the epicenter of export activity, overtaking Houston, Beaumont and Louisiana — sometimes all three combined — for most volume moved on a monthly basis. With new export terminals coming online and increased connectivity, Corpus appears poised to continue its recent string of record-setting export numbers. In today’s blog, we review some recent breakthroughs in Corpus cargoes and shine a light on the new terminals in the area.
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Corpus Christi exports are increasing at a rapid rate. From January through August of 2019, Corpus volumes averaged just 532 Mb/d on a monthly basis, according to ship-tracking data from RBN’s Crude Voyager report. Since September, however, that monthly average has skyrocketed to 1.24 MMb/d. And in the past four weeks, export volumes out of the port have been 1.6 MMb/d, 1.536 MMb/d, 1.65 Mb/d and — for the week ending December 27 — 1.257 MMb/d, for an average of ~1.5 MMb/d (top of the right-most bar stack in Figure 1). Those numbers are truly astonishing, and at times, Corpus volumes have accounted for more than half of all crude exports moving out of the U.S. on a weekly basis. It’s even more impressive that Corpus has recently taken over the top spot from both Houston and Beaumont. In 2018 and the first half of 2019, Corpus had been a consistent third wheel to those two, with Houston averaging just over 1 Mb/d since the beginning of 2019, and Beaumont averaging 661 Mb/d since the start of the year. Corpus’s rapid growth hasn’t caught the market by surprise, but it has been an interesting case study in how quickly infrastructure development and operational efficiency can change the tide in oil markets. (The port’s exporting prowess also reinforces our view — stated in our 2020 prognostications blog yesterday — that crude export capacity along the Gulf Coast will not be a problem.)
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About the song
“Things Have Changed” was written, produced, and performed by Bob Dylan, and appears as the first track on the Wonder Boys (Music from the Motion Picture) soundtrack album. The song was recorded in July 1999, with Dylan’s touring band at the time backing him up. The session took place at Sony Studios in New York City. Two takes were recorded, with the second take being the one used on the album. According to Dylan drummer David Kemper, “In about five hours we learned the song, recorded it, and mixed it.” Personnel on the record were: Bob Dylan (vocals, piano), Charlie Sexton (guitar), Larry Campbell (guitar), Tony Garnier (bass) and David Kemper (drums). “Things Have Changed” was released as a single in May 2000 but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The song went on to win a Golden Globe Award for “Best Original Song” in 2000 and an Oscar at the 2001 Academy Awards, also for “Best Original Song.”
Wonder Boys (Music from the Motion Picture) was released in February 2000. “Things Have Changed” was the only single released from the album, which also contained three other Dylan songs. The album went to #155 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The soundtrack album also had contributions from Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and Clarence Carter, among others.
Bob Dylan is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, author, poet, painter and illustrator. He has been a popular culture icon in a career that has spanned more than six decades. He is considered by many to be the greatest songwriter of all time. He has released 40 studio albums, 16 live albums, 31 compilation albums, 24 EPs, seven soundtrack albums and 102 singles, and has sold more than 125 million records worldwide. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame and is a recipient of Kennedy Center Honors, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Polar Music Prize, France’s Legion d’Honneur, and a Nobel Prize in Literature. Dylan is also known for his paintings, drawings and books. His most recent book, “The Philosophy of Modern Song,” contains essays on 66 songs by artists who have influenced him. Dylan continues to record and tour and performed at the 40th annual Farm Aid benefit in Minnesota in September. He will be on tour in Europe in October and November.
