Blending Heavy And Light Crude Oils For US Refiners -- Platts

Again, some great statistics coming out of the Bakken and the Eagle Ford.

But the growth in production from the two main shale oil plays–the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in South Texas–has been so fast that infrastructure is still playing catch up, with new trains, rail and terminals being built at a record pace. But still some refiners are hard put to keep up with the new streams.

At the Texas port of Corpus Christi, 108 million barrels of crude–the majority of which was Eagle Ford–moved into the port, with about 43.7 million barrels moving out via rail, barge and truck up the coast to Texas and Louisiana refineries.

Several port customers, including Valero and Flint Hills, both of whom have sizable refineries in Corpus Christi, have started to blend Eagle Ford with foreign crude, said Frank Brogan, Managing Director of the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas.

“It has been a substantial growth as the Eagle Ford crude production has surpassed the ability of the local refineries to refine it,” said Brogan.

The incredible rising North American crude production–both from the shale plays and heavy Canadian crude from the tar sands in Alberta–has created a massive volumes of crude with qualities not particularly suited for many refineries. This is particularly true of the light Eagle Ford, with can carry an API of 47.