Sentinel Midstream receives MARAD record of decision for Texas GulfLink port
Sentinel Midstream LLC’s Texas GulfLink Deepwater Port 30 miles off the coast of Brazoria County, Tex., has received its record of decision (ROD) from the US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD).
Sentinel Midstream subsidiary Texas GulfLink LLC submitted a license application in 2019 to construct and operate a deepwater port for the export of domestically produced crude oil to global markets. The port would be sited about 26.6 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria County, Tex., in water depth of about 104 ft (OGJ Online, Feb. 12, 2019). The completed project will be capable of fully loading very large crude carriers (VLCC) to export US produced crude oil to global markets.
The company said the terminal “will substantially reduce costs, improve vessel traffic in crowded US Gulf Coast ship channels, and reduce air emissions associated with lightering operations,” and that the overall project will “employ state-of-the-art vapor recovery technology, further improving its environmental profile.”
Texas GulfLink plans, permitting
Plans for Texas GulfLink include an onshore terminal with as much as 18 million bbl of storage, an offshore 42-in. pipeline, and a manned offshore platform 30 miles offshore. From the platform, oil will be transported to two single-point mooring buoys to allow for VLCCs to crude oil with loading rates up to 85,000 bbl/hr.
The ROD concludes a multi-year environmental and technical review of Texas GulfLink’s deepwater crude oil export terminal application during which multiple draft environmental impact statements were published and several public hearings held, Sentinel Midstream said in a release Feb. 18.
Texas GulfLink must comply with state and federal permitting, mitigation, and related requirements outlined in the ROD before a deepwater port license can be issued and before the company can begin construction of the proposed deepwater port, MARAD said.
From a permitting perspective, Texas GulfLink is advanced, RBN Energy writer Lisa Shidler said in a blog post Feb. 19, noting completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review following its final public hearing in September 2024 and approval from Texas Governor Greg Abbott that same month.
In addition to satisfying ROD conditions to be granted the license to construct, own, and operate the deepwater port, still to look for is the ability to secure the financial backing and offtake agreements needed to make a final investment decision (FID), Shidler said.
Sentinel said Texas GulfLink will “immediately turn its attention to satisfying the license conditions” and is eager to bring the project to fruition.
Construction of the proposed port is expected to begin in this year’s fourth quarter, subject to license conditions being met and a license issued.
Onshore construction is expected to begin in fourth-quarter 2025 and be completed in second-quarter 2027. Port commissioning and first crude oil exports could occur in fourth-quarter 2027, contingent upon the company’s ability to obtain all required state and federal permits and satisfy all license conditions.
Mikaila Adams | Managing Editor - News
Mikaila Adams has 20 years of experience as an editor, most of which has been centered on the oil and gas industry. She enjoyed 12 years focused on the business/finance side of the industry as an editor for Oil & Gas Journal's sister publication, Oil & Gas Financial Journal (OGFJ). After OGFJ ceased publication in 2017, she joined Oil & Gas Journal and was named Managing Editor - News in 2019. She holds a degree from Texas Tech University.
