Enterprise to partially load VLCC at Texas port

Enterprise is planning to partially load a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) at a marine terminal on the Texas coast later this month, the first such loading at a Texas port.

Seaway pipeline, owned by Enterprise and Enbridge, will load the VLCC FPMC C Melody at its Texas City marine terminal to about 1.1mn bl — about half of the ship's 2mn bl capacity, according to a presentation today at the JP Morgan Energy Conference in New York.

The remaining crude to fill the VLCC will be transferred to the ship in the lightering zone offshore in deeper water.

Vesseltracking data indicates the FPMC C Melody arrived at the Texas Gulf coast on 16 June and is currently at anchor near Houston.

Enterprise in April tested another VLCC— the Nave Quasar — at Texas City. The company was taking measurements, seeing if the load arms worked and evaluating other information, the company said at the time.

There is no plan to dredge the channel at Texas City to VLCC depth to allow full loading of the large vessels. Doing so might also not be feasible because the continental shelf extends much further into the open water from the upper Texas coast. As such, partial lightering is still necessary after a partial fill.

Enterprise said today that partial loading of VLCCs at the dock will result in greater efficiencies and costs savings compared to lightering only.

Just one US port, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), is currently capable of loading VLCCs, although more companies are planning to accommodate the larger vessels. The Port of Corpus Christi Authority is pushing ahead with plans for supertanker capabilities on an island it owns, conducting feasibility and environmental impact studies on revamping Harbor Island at nearby Aransas Pass.

Enterprise's crude exports in May hit a record high of 724,000 b/d, according to the presentation.

US crude exports have been rising sharply amid booming production in the Permian basin.

Domestic oil exports in April hit a record high of about 1.8mn b/d with Canada, Italy and China as the top three destinations, according to the most recent Census Bureau trade data.