Texas storage terminals waste no time loading first crude exports to Europe in 40 years

Feb. 5, 2016
TWO TEXAS storage terminals played leading roles in the first exports of crude oil to Europe since the US oil export ban was enacted 40 years ago. The crude oil shipments occurred just weeks after repeal of the ban in mid-December 2015.

TWO TEXAS storage terminals played leading roles in the first exports of crude oil to Europe since the US oil export ban was enacted 40 years ago. The crude oil shipments occurred just weeks after repeal of the ban in mid-December 2015.

NuStar Energy and ConocoPhillips announced that they believe they loaded the nation’s first export cargo of US-produced light crude oil since the oil export ban was lifted on December 18, 2015.

ConocoPhillips had committed to sell Eagle Ford light crude oil/condensate to international trading company Vitol. Loading of the cargo was completed December 31 at NuStar’s North Beach Terminal located in the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, and the shipment reportedly is en route to Italy.

A second US crude oil shipment also was consigned to Vitol and departed for a European destination on January 8. This shipment was loaded at the Enterprise Hydrocarbon Terminal on the Houston Ship Channel in Texas a week or so after the shipment from the NuStar terminal.

Enterprise loaded 600,000 barrels of light crude oil onto the tanker Angelica Schulte. The Enterprise Hydrocarbon Terminal has approximately 21 million barrels of storage capacity with another 3.5 million barrels of storage under construction. Enterprise has invested heavily in all of its facilities in the Houston area, and management believes the company is well positioned to serve the crude oil export market

NuStar also has invested heavily in recent years to expand its South Texas crude oil pipeline system to move crude oil from the Eagle Ford Shale play to Corpus Christi. The company has made major investments in its Corpus Christi terminal operations with the addition of more storage tanks, dock space, and automated systems that allow the company to better accommodate and provide logistics services for its customers, including the ability to load export-size cargoes from its docks.

“Based on our investments in Corpus Christi and our South Texas pipeline system, NuStar was well-positioned, equipped and staffed to immediately begin loading cargoes for export,” said NuStar President and CEO Brad Barron. “And we plan on further expanding our Corpus Christi operations to provide more options to our customers to move Eagle Ford Shale crude oil, whether it is being moved domestically or internationally. In fact, we are currently in the process of developing a second private dock in the Port of Corpus Christi.”

Barron noted that with the new dock, NuStar would have access to four loading docks in the Port of Corpus Christi, including two private docks, and would be able to load crude oil onto ships simultaneously on all four docks at a maximum rate of 90,000 barrels per hour.  ♦

About the Author

Charles Wilson

Charles E. Wilson has spent 20 years covering the tank truck, tank container, and storage terminal industries throughout North, South, and Central America. He has been editor of Bulk Transporter since 1989. Prior to that, Wilson was managing editor of Bulk Transporter and Refrigerated Transporter and associate editor of Trailer/Body Builders. Before joining the three publications in Houston TX, he wrote for various food industry trade publications in other parts of the country. Wilson has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Kansas and served three years in the U.S. Army.

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