Texas Community Gears Up to Fight Against Proposed Crude Oil Export Terminal

OILMONSTER.COM- Fulton, 54, is among the members of a group recently formed to oppose a plan by the Port of Corpus Christi to build a $500 million crude oil export terminal on Harbor Island, bringing the world’s largest oil tankers and a tank farm just 1,000 feet across Aransas Pass from this city of about 4,000. With gutted hotels along the beach along the Gulf of Mexico and collapsed buildings in town as reminders of their vulnerability, residents here say they can’t take the risk of something going wrong at an operation through which millions of barrels of crude oil would pass each day.

The opposition group, the Port Aransas Conservancy, is gearing up for a fight that has implications not only for Port Aransas and the Port of Corpus Christi, but also the energy industry and economy. With the flood of crude produced in the Permian Basin and other shale plays, Texas is emerging as one of the world’s biggest oil exporters and the Port of Corpus Christi as the hub for those exports, which bring billions of dollars into the state.

“This nation has an opportunity to become a net exporter of its energy production and turn the tide in balancing the trade,” said Sean Strawbridge, CEO of the Port of Corpus Christi.

The Harbor Island terminal is part of a plan to accommodate the world’s largest oil tankers and double the amount of crude exported from the port to about 600,000 barrels a day from about 300,000. The project would dredge the ship channel and build a dock to handle ships called Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs, which stretch 1,200 feet — longer than the Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carriers — and carry up to 2 million barrels of oil.

The development, proposed for 254 acres the port owns on Harbor Island, would include a terminal that could load up to 285,000 barrels of crude a day and a tank farm holding up to 5 million barrels. Eventually, the complex could expand to accommodate two VLCCs, store up to 20 million barrels and load up to 1.2 million barrels a day.

Corpus Christi isn’t the only area being eyed for VLCC capabilities. Enterprise Product Partners said Tuesday that it plans to build a new export terminal 80 miles offshore of the Houston Ship Channel entryway. The terminal would allow the company to fully load VLCCs, which it currently can only partially load at its Texas City terminal and has to finish loading offshore using smaller vessels.

VLCCs can save companies as much as 75 cents a barrel, or roughly $1.5 million per load, making both U.S. crude and the port more competitive in the global economy. Currently, Strawbridge added, smaller tankers cruise offshore to fill big tankers, increasing the risk of spills and environmental damage.

“From our standpoint,” Strawbridge said, “having it here gives us much better oversight and much better safety measures and much less opportunity for some sort of accident to occur, in our opinion.”

The Port unveiled its plan at a meeting on May 15, and within weeks residents had organized the opposition group. In addition to fears of catastrophes caused by hurricanes, residents worry about increases in ship traffic, which creates waves and damages piers, beaches and protective bulkheads and seawalls.

 Courtesy: www.expressnews.com