Argus Live: Corpus Christi crude exports nearly double

Crude exports out of Corpus Christi nearly doubled in 2020 after three new pipelines went into service moving Permian and Eagle Ford crude to the south Texas port.

Corpus Christi crude exports averaged 1.5mn b/d last year, up by about 90pc from the average in 2019, said the port's chief executive Sean Strawbridge at the Argus Crude Live virtual conference. There were days when Corpus Christi exported up to 2.5mn b/d of crude, he said.

"We saw significant increase in our volumes in 2020," he said. "Even during the pandemic. Even with the economic destruction, even with the two-day blip of oil going into negative territory…we doubled the volume that we did on a daily basis."

Corpus Christi has become the top port for exports of US crude after the 670,000 b/d Cactus 2 line, the 600,000 b/d Epic line and the 900,000 Gray Oak line went into service in the past two year. In addition, several large port expansions went online, including the new Buckeye Partners' South Texas Gateway terminal in Ingleside, Texas.

Corpus Christi has about 4.8mn b/d of export capacity and 42mn bl of storage, according to Andrew Lipow, president of consultancy Lipow Oil Associates, who also spoke at the Argus Crude Live conference. The Houston-Texas City area has 2.4mn b/d of export capacity and 74mn bl of storage, while the Beaumont-Port Arthur area in Texas has 2.8mn b/d of export capacity and 52mn bl of storage. The storage figures do not include refinery crude storage.

In addition, there is 2.8mn b/d of export capacity along the Mississippi River and nearly 1mn b/d at Freeport and Point Comfort in Texas. "There is a huge amount of export capacity that is available to the market," Lipow said. "This doesn't mean that it is all economic, but it does exist."

Enterprise Products co-chief executive Jim Teague told the Argus Live conference yesterday that some of the producers shipping crude to Corpus Christi will likely shift those volumes to Houston when contracts expire because Houston offers more storage options and more market opportunities.

The pipelines to Corpus Christi and docks in Corpus Christi were underwritten by producers "so effectively they have sunk costs," Teague said. "Those contracts end at a certain point in time."

But Strawbridge said that Corpus Christi offers "neat barrels" that do not include a co-mingling "of these wide swaths of specifications that you see in the Houston market" which has an impact on quality. "If you like the liquidity of the Houston market, you will love the liquidity of the global markets, because that is what the infrastructure in Corpus Christi is designed to do," he said.

By Eunice Bridges