A Carlyle Group $1 billion deepwater crude export project faces a delay of up to 18 months after regulators called for a full environmental review, officials said, a setback in the private equity firm’s race to be first to open a new deepwater, U.S. Gulf Coast export hub.
Carlyle and commodities trader Trafigura AG are vying to open the first Texas port in Corpus Christi that can fully load supertankers. Carlyle has partnered with the port for a dredging project that would enable it to fully load supertankers capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil to destinations worldwide. Trafigura has proposed an offshore port, which requires no dredging and a less extensive permitting process.
The U.S. shale boom has prompted a surge in oil exports, upending global supply and sparking a race to build infrastructure that can handle those vessels. Exports recently hit a record 3.6 million barrels a day and should keep rising. The U.S. Energy Department has projected that domestic output will exceed 13 million bpd by 2020.
Currently, U.S. export capabilities are constrained because the U.S. Gulf, which handles most oil exports, only has one port, located in Louisiana, deep enough to fully load those vessels without resorting to expensive ship-to-ship transfers in deeper waters.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issues permits for dredging projects, has recommended a full environmental impact statement (EIS) for Carlyle’s project to dredge the ship channel to a depth of 75 feet, Port of Corpus Christi Authority Chief Executive Sean Strawbridge said in an interview on the sidelines of the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.
Source: https://gcaptain.com