A joint venture involving Houston billionaire Dan Duncan's Enterprise Products Partners and TEPPCO Partners plans to build and run a $1.8 billion oil terminal 36 miles off the coast of Freeport in Texas.
Similar to the existing Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, the new terminal is slated to have two floating connections for VLCCs to unload their crude oil cargoes.
To be named the Texas Offshore Port System, or TOPS, the new project will have 160 miles of pipelines to move oil to shore and along the coast to refineries in Houston, Port Arthur and Beaumont. It also features new storage onshore for more than 5 million barrels of crude oil.
A third partner of the joint venture is Germany's Oiltanking Holdings Americas.
ExxonMobil Corp. and Motiva Enterprises LLC. (Shell and Saudi Aramco 50/50 joint venture) are said to have committed to take their shipments through the system for their coastal refineries.
Completion of the project would see the new facility unload up to 1.8 million barrels per day, or some 18% of current US oil imports.
With a capacity of 1.2 billion barrels per day, LOOP already moves some 12% of annual US oil imports.
“[T]he main catalyst for this project (TOPS) is the expansion that's taking place at refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast,” a director with Enterprise was quoted saying.
About 2.5 million of the 3.6 million barrels per day of oil refining capacity for the Texan coastal region from Freeport to Houston and Port Arthur arrive on oil tankers, reported the Houston Chronicle.
The local newspaper expects major refinery expansions currently in the pipeline to boost future demand for oil imports into the region.
Texan ports are not deep enough, however, to cope with VLCCs. As a result, foreign oil coming in on supertankers has to be transferred onto smaller tankers in a process called lightering, which would enable the cargoes to reach coastal and inland refining facilities.
TOPS would allow the largest of the world's supertankers to anchor next to a buoy with pipes connecting it to a pumping station that will move the oil on-shore.
“This would help provide an alternative to lightering, help reduce congestion in the Houston Ship Channel and other ports and help companies avoid extra port fees,” a senior executive with Oiltanking was quoted saying.
One source said the offshore facility is “less likely than a coastal port to be shut down by a fog and can operate around the clock”.
Some players have also been lauding the project as a measure to cut back tanker traffic in ports and reduce the risk of spills since less lightering is required.
The project is currently awaiting approval from the US Coast Guard, and the onshore pipeline and storage facilities are subject to review by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Army Coprs of Engineers and Department of Transportation.
Similar to the existing Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, the new terminal is slated to have two floating connections for VLCCs to unload their crude oil cargoes.
To be named the Texas Offshore Port System, or TOPS, the new project will have 160 miles of pipelines to move oil to shore and along the coast to refineries in Houston, Port Arthur and Beaumont. It also features new storage onshore for more than 5 million barrels of crude oil.
A third partner of the joint venture is Germany's Oiltanking Holdings Americas.
ExxonMobil Corp. and Motiva Enterprises LLC. (Shell and Saudi Aramco 50/50 joint venture) are said to have committed to take their shipments through the system for their coastal refineries.
Completion of the project would see the new facility unload up to 1.8 million barrels per day, or some 18% of current US oil imports.
With a capacity of 1.2 billion barrels per day, LOOP already moves some 12% of annual US oil imports.
“[T]he main catalyst for this project (TOPS) is the expansion that's taking place at refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast,” a director with Enterprise was quoted saying.
About 2.5 million of the 3.6 million barrels per day of oil refining capacity for the Texan coastal region from Freeport to Houston and Port Arthur arrive on oil tankers, reported the Houston Chronicle.
The local newspaper expects major refinery expansions currently in the pipeline to boost future demand for oil imports into the region.
Texan ports are not deep enough, however, to cope with VLCCs. As a result, foreign oil coming in on supertankers has to be transferred onto smaller tankers in a process called lightering, which would enable the cargoes to reach coastal and inland refining facilities.
TOPS would allow the largest of the world's supertankers to anchor next to a buoy with pipes connecting it to a pumping station that will move the oil on-shore.
“This would help provide an alternative to lightering, help reduce congestion in the Houston Ship Channel and other ports and help companies avoid extra port fees,” a senior executive with Oiltanking was quoted saying.
One source said the offshore facility is “less likely than a coastal port to be shut down by a fog and can operate around the clock”.
Some players have also been lauding the project as a measure to cut back tanker traffic in ports and reduce the risk of spills since less lightering is required.
The project is currently awaiting approval from the US Coast Guard, and the onshore pipeline and storage facilities are subject to review by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Army Coprs of Engineers and Department of Transportation.