Regulators OK deepwater oil terminal off Texas coast

The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, a deepwater port near Port Fourchon (Courtesy LOOP)

The federal Maritime Administration has cleared the way for the licensing of a deepwater Sea Port Oil Terminal, or SPOT, 30 miles south of Freeport, Texas, by Enterprise Products Partners, reports the Houston Chronicle.

If built, the port would be the first of several competing projects that were proposed in 2019 and designed to make loading large crude carriers more efficient and to slash oil transportation costs.

A host of companies and consortiums are pursuing the development of at least five separate deepwater oil ports off the coast of Texas, each hoping to tap into burgeoning worldwide demand for exports. They’re attempting to catch up with the only current oil exporter in the U.S. deepwater market—the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, located some 30 miles south of Fourchon.

A pipeline would move crude from Enterprise’s pipeline network in Houston to Surfside, Texas. Read the entire story.