Record US Crude Exports, Rising Shale Output Boosts Oil Flow to Houston
Oil pipelines from the top U.S. shale field to Houston that have run half empty are filling again as rising output has absorbed most of the space on lines to the main south Texas export hub in Corpus Christi.U.S. crude exports climbed to a record of about 4.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, spurred by recovering Chinese demand and competitive pricing for U.S. oil. Sanctions on Russian crude purchases by the European Union and Britain also have boosted demand.Pipelines…
Magellan Begins Refined Products Transportation on Hearne Pipeline
Magellan Midstream Partners LP said on Wednesday it had commenced operation of a new 135-mile, 20-inch diameter refined products pipeline from its East Houston terminal to Hearne, Texas.The company also said construction of a pipeline spur from the new system to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport was also complete and would be in operation by Nov. 1, once testing is finalized.Completion of the East Houston to Hearne pipeline has also reversed an existing pipeline segment between Hearne and Dallas…
ICE, Magellan to Offer Dock Capacity to Houston Oil Futures Customers
Intercontinental Exchange Inc and Magellan Midstream Partners LP said on Wednesday they would auction dock capacity at Magellan's terminals in Galena Park and Seabrook, Texas, for holders of ICE's Permian West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures contracts.The monthly auction process will allow customers who purchase an ICE Permian WTI crude futures contract, deliverable at Magellan's East Houston terminal (MEH), the option to load crude directly onto a vessel at Galena Park and Seabrook dock facilities for export, the companies said.The capacity offered will be adequate to fill Panamax and Aframax size vessels, with Suezmax size vessels set to be added in the future.Earlier this year…
Magellan: Freeport, Texas Possible Spots for Deepwater Terminal
Magellan Midstream Partners LP is considering Freeport, Texas and other locations along the U.S. Gulf Coast for a crude export terminal it had previously planned for a harbor island off the south Texas city of Corpus Christi, an executive said on Thursday.Magellan is still considering Corpus Christi as the spot for the terminal, Magellan senior vice president Mark Roles said during a panel at the Argus Americas Crude Summit in downtown Houston. The terminal would be capable of loading 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) onto supertankers and room for up to 20 million barrels of storage capacity…
US Oil Export Boom Sparks Battle to Build Texas Ports
Booming U.S. oil exports have set off a scramble to build Gulf Coast ports to handle more than 3 million barrels per day in new supplies expected over the next five years.Of seven proposed oil-export projects, nowhere is the opportunity greater or the competition more fierce than in Corpus Christi, Texas, where three firms are vying to open the state's first deepwater port.Commodities trader Trafigura has taken an early lead with a planned offshore facility that has an easier…
Texas Flood: U.S. Oil Pours into Global Markets
United States taking share from OPEC nations in Asia, Europe, as China’s biggest U.S. crude buyer to double imports. In the two years since Washington lifted a 40-year ban on oil exports, tankers filled with U.S. crude have landed in more than 30 countries, ranging from massive economies like China and India to tiny Togo. The repeal has unleashed a flood of U.S. shale oil, undercutting global crude prices, eroding the clout of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and seizing market share from many of its member countries. In 2005, before the shale revolution, the United States had net imports of 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and fuels - compared to just 4 million bpd today. U.S.
U.S. Oil Exports Boom, Pushing Infrastructure to Limits
Tankers carrying record levels of crude are leaving in droves from Texas and Louisiana ports, and more growth in the fledgling U.S. oil export market may before long test the limits of infrastructure like pipelines, dock space and ship traffic. U.S. crude exports have boomed since the decades-old ban was lifted less than two years ago, with shipments recently hitting a record of 2 million barrels a day. But shippers and traders fear the rising trend is not sustainable, and if limits are hit, it could pressure the price of U.S. oil. How much crude the United States can export is a mystery. Most terminal operators and companies will not disclose capacity, and federal agencies like the U.S. Energy Department do not track it.
Oil/Chemical Spills from Harvey Are Big, but Dwarfed by Katrina
More than 22,000 barrels of oil, refined fuels and chemicals spilled at sites across Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, along with millions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of tons of other toxic substances, a Reuters review of company reports to the U.S. Coast Guard shows. The spills, clustered around the heart of the U.S. oil industry, together rank among the worst environmental mishaps in the country in years, but fall far short of the roughly 190,000 barrels spilled in Louisiana in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina - the last major storm to take dead aim at the U.S. Gulf Coast. Harvey slammed ashore in Texas on Aug. 26, unleashing record flooding around Houston that destroyed countless homes, displaced around a million people and killed scores. The U.S.
Oil, Chemical Spills from Harvey Adding Up
More than 22,000 barrels of oil, refined fuels and chemicals spilled at sites across Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, along with millions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of tons of other toxic substances, a Reuters review of company reports to the U.S. Coast Guard shows. The spills, clustered around the heart of the U.S. oil industry, together rank among the worst environmental mishaps in the country in years, but fall far short of the roughly 190,000 barrels spilled in Louisiana in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina - the last major storm to take dead aim at the U.S. Gulf Coast. Harvey slammed ashore in Texas on Aug. 26, unleashing record flooding around Houston that destroyed countless homes, displaced around a million people and killed scores. The U.S.
Kinder Morgan Mulls LPG, Product & Crude Exports
Kinder Morgan Inc is considering more export opportunities from Texas and the U.S. Northeast, including liquid petroleum gas, refined products and potentially crude, a top executive told analysts on Wednesday. "The market is very ripe in Houston right now, it's just a matter of which product makes the most sense," John Schlosser, head of Kinder Morgan's terminals division, said during a quarterly earnings call. Kinder Morgan already exports refined products and has increased its docks to 12 from four at its Houston Ship Channel complex. Those expansions accommodate nearby refiners seeking to increase exports. U.S. petroleum product exports rose 500…
Trafigura Seeks Investors for Texas Shale Storage Terminal
Global trader Trafigura AG is seeking potential investors to buy a stake in its oil terminal and storage facility in Corpus Christi, Texas, a once-quiet port that has become a bustling hub for shipping Eagle Ford shale crude. Trafigura, which like other big commodity merchants has in recent years moved to buy key infrastructure assets to support its trading business, bought Texas Dock & Rail in early 2012, just as Eagle Ford production was emerging as the next big U.S. shale play after North Dakota's Bakken. It has since built the facility, once home to a failed steel plant, into a major gateway for shipping rapidly growing U.S. oil production as far as Canada, with two deepwater tanker berths and an expanding suite of logistical assets.
Double Eagle Pipeline Fully Operational
Double Eagle Pipeline LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P.,today announced that the entire pipeline system, comprised of 195 miles of pipe, is now in full operation to Corpus Christi, Texas as designed. The 84-mile western leg of the Double Eagle pipeline system is connected into four central gathering facilities and is moving condensate from Gardendale near Cotulla, Texas, in LaSalle County through Three Riverstruck unloading and storage facility in Live Oak County to Magellan’s Corpus Christi Terminal. The 37-mile eastern leg of the Double Eagle pipeline system is moving condensate from Karnes County, Texas, also through Three Rivers, and down to Magellan’s Corpus Christi Terminal.