Now this.
From Reuters via Rigzone: Texas oil port will raise $300 million for work to handle US shale export boom --
Port officials are expected to consider $300 million in financing that would prepare the country's largest oil-export port - Corpus Christi, Texas - to handle a surge in U.S. shale production over the next five years.
International buyers would like more U.S. crude but are unable to get it because of infrastructure constraints along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Terminals originally designed for imports only recently have revamped operations to handle exports including accepting larger tankers preferred by China and other oil buyers.
The port is prepared to levy new user fees for the debt costs if the U.S. government does not reimburse it for spending the money to deepen and widen port facilities to accept larger ships.
The United States is now exporting more than 2 million barrels of oil a day, but the largest tankers currently only move in and out of a Louisiana offshore port because others are not deep enough. [And it's still headline news when one of those VLCC tankers moves in.]
Corpus Christi exports 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude.
Corpus Christi sits on the U.S. Gulf Coast near two of the nation's largest oilfields, the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford shale, which together produce about 4.7 million bpd, nearly half of the total U.S. production.
The channel's existing 47-foot-depth restricts it from fully loading crude tankers that carry up to 1 million barrels. Smaller vessels must finish loading the tankers offshore.
The project will deepen the channel to 54 feet for larger tankers.
Oil export capacity from the Corpus Christi area is expected to rise to 3.3 million bpd by 2021 from 1.3 million bpd this year, keeping its rank as the top oil export port.Much more at the link.
So, in round numbers, today: 1 million bopd exported from Corpus Christi; in three years, 4 million bopd (yes, I know 3.3 doesn't round to 4.0 but as I've said often about the shale revolution: I'm inappropriately exuberant).
*****************************
That Was Crude Oil ... Now, LNG
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.