January 10, 2018 – Natural Gas Intelligence
South Texas VLCC Project to Export Oil Gains Momentum as $92M Contract Awarded
By: Leticia Gonzales
As midstream companies like Enbridge Inc. begin racing to develop deepwater export terminals along the Gulf Coast to accommodate very large crude carriers (VLCC), federal authorities have upped their efforts to deepen the country’s largest export port as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded its first contract last week for the Corpus Christi Ship Channel Improvement Project….
Read the full article here: https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/117031-south-texas-vlcc-project-to-export-oil-gains-momentum-as-92m-contract-awarded
In December, the LOOP showed off new upgrades by loading three supertankers -- about 6 million bbl of crude total -- in a matter of only seven days, according to RBN Energy.
“That’s impressive -- it had never been done before -- but companies like Enterprise Products Partners LP have indicated that their planned offshore terminals will be capable of more than doubling that pace -- to as many as seven supertankers in a week’s time,” RBN analyst Laura Blewitt said in a recent blog post.
Meanwhile, the export hub in Ingleside, TX, in the northeast corner of the Port of Corpus Christi, can partially load a VLCC, as can the Seaway export hub, a joint development between Enbridge and Enterprise.
“We expect these incremental improvements to hasten the pace of U.S. crude exports in 2019. This year, what we’re looking forward to the most is finding out which new projects will advance” via final investment decisions “and how quickly they can be brought online,” Blewitt said.
