Regions along the US Gulf of Mexico will play an increasing role as oil exporters with US crude oil exports forecast to rise to 2.25 million b/d by 2020, a fourfold increase from 2016, said a special report from PIRA, an analytics and forecasting unit of S&P Global Platts.
Shale production will drive the increased exports, requiring infrastructure redevelopment along the Gulf Coast where operational capacity for crude oil and condensate exports is likely to expand by at least 600,000 b/d by Dec. 31, 2018, PIRA said.
Jenna Delaney, PIRA senior analyst, said three regions are the Texas cities of Corpus Christi and Brownsville, Houston, and Beaumont and Nederland. She listed the state of Louisiana as the fourth region. PIRA has identified 22 active export terminals.
“PIRA believes Corpus Christi is positioned to become an increasingly prominent area for US exports,” Delaney said. “Corpus Christ’s proximity to the Eagle Ford formation and projected pipeline expansions connecting it to the Permian offer it access to cheap supplies, Infrastructure projects, both private and public, will allow for greater export scale.”
She said shippers likely will have to absorb reverse lightering costs.
“The US has not yet pushed the bounds of its export capacity,” Delaney said.
