Moda Midstream has completed the installation of load arms to handle very large crude carriers (VLCC) at its Texas coast terminal and is set to partially load the first supertanker this week.
The company has also completed dock modifications to load VLCCs at 80,000 bl per hour at the terminal at Ingleside, near Corpus Christi, a Moda Midstream spokesman said today.
The scheduled VLCC will be loaded with approximately 1.2mn bl at the facility in less than 24 hours, he said. A VLCC cannot be fully loaded at Ingleside because of the current depth of the ship channel. One VLCC can carry up to 2mn bl.
The VLCC Nasiriyah berthed at Ingleside overnight and is expected to carry up to 2.01mn bl of light sweet US crude to the Netherlands port of Rotterdam under chartering by Occidental Petroleum, according to vesseltracking data and recent shipping fixture reports. The remaining volume will be reverse lightered from an Aframax tanker in a nearby offshore lightering zone.
Occidental said today that the VLCC will be loaded with Permian basin crude and marks "a significant milestone" for the company, for the Permian basin and for the US oil industry. It will be the first VLCC to deliver US oil to Rotterdam, where Permian grade crude is in high demand.
Moda purchased the Ingleside terminal from Occidental earlier this year in a $2.6bn deal that also included pipeline systems.
Occidental [has booked] (http://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1812089) three more VLCCs to leave the US Gulf coast for Europe by late January, a new trend spurred by shifting freight economics. The Nave Buena Suerte, the Basra and the Aral will follow the same loading process as the Nasiriyah.
Occidental exports West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, typically out of the Ingleside terminal.
The push to add VLCC loading capacity at US ports comes amid record high domestic production and growing interest in exporting domestic crude. US crude exports reached a record high of 2.33mn b/d in October, with Canada and South Korea as the top two destinations, according to the latest US Census trade data.
Several companies, including Enterprise, Enbridge, Trafigura, Magellan, Jupiter and Tallgrass Energy, are [considering building] (http://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1742148) offshore oil ports that could load and unload the VLCC tankers.
