Port Corpus Christi approves lease for new rail terminal
The Port of Corpus Christi has approved a long-term lease agreement with Maverick Terminals Corpus LLC, a subsidiary of Howard Energy Partners (HEP). The 30-year lease agreement was approved unanimously by port commissioners for approximately 41 acres of land on the north side of the Corpus Christi Ship Channel in the inner harbor.
HEP plans to design, construct and operate a rail terminal and petroleum and petroleum products storage facility on the leased property. HEP intends for this facility to connect with its proposed Dos Aguilas pipeline to Monterrey, Mexico. As part of the lease agreement terms, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority will design and construct a new oil dock, Oil Dock 20, which will target crude exports to international markets and have Suezmax capability.
For more information, visit www.Portofcc.com or www.howardenergypartners.com.
SemGroup adding ship dock, crude oil storage at Texas HFOTCO
SemGroup is adding a fifth dock and 1.45 million barrels of crude storage at its recently acquired Houston fuel oil and crude export facility. SemGroup bought the Houston Fuel Oil Terminal Co. (HFOTCO) from privately held Alinda Capital Partners. The HFOTCO facility currently comprises a 16.8-million-barrel storage terminal for residual fuel, crude oil and asphalt, with four ship docks and seven barge docks, three pipeline connections, and truck and rail loading and unloading facilities.
Of the total storage, nearly 65 percent, or 11 million barrels, is for storage of heated residual fuel, and the remaining 5 million barrels is for crude oil and asphalt. The 24-inch crude line brings crude from the St. James, Louisiana, oil hub to Shell's 225,800-bpd Norco refinery, also in Louisiana. The two product lines will carry intermediates between Norco and Shell's 227,586-bpd Convent, Louisiana, refinery.
For more information, visit www.Semgroupcorp.com or call (918) 524-8100.
Sempra, Valero sign contracts for Mexican liquid fuels projects
Sempra Energy's Mexican subsidiary, Infraestructura Energética Nova (IEnova), has signed long-term contracts with a subsidiary of Valero Energy Corp. for the storage capacity of the liquid fuels marine terminal to be constructed in Veracruz and two inland storage facilities to be constructed in Puebla and Mexico City.
The three liquid fuels projects represent an estimated capital investment of $275 million. The 20-year concession agreement with the Port Authority of Veracruz awarded to develop, construct and operate a receipt, storage and send-out liquid fuels marine terminal was also signed.
The Veracruz terminal will have a capacity of 1.4 million barrels of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to supply the central region of Mexico. The two storage terminals to be built and operated by Ienova in Puebla and Mexico City will have initial storage capacities of approximately 500,000 barrels and 800,000 barrels, respectively.
For more information, visit www.Sempra.com or www.valero.com.
California's Aliso Canyon storage facility to resume operation
Aliso Canyon, California's largest underground natural gas storage facility, has been cleared by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources to increase injections above earlier imposed limits.
Owned and operated by the Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Aliso Canyon has a total working storage capacity of 86 Bcf of natural gas, or about 64 percent of the SoCalGas total.
Once Aliso Canyon resumes limited operations, the facility's maximum working gas storage level will be limited to a maximum of 23.6 Bcf, about 28 percent of the facility's maximum capacity. SoCalGas can withdraw natural gas when natural gas is needed for reliability after the other fields are at full usage and other steps have been taken to reduce or shift demand.
For more information, visit www.Eia.gov or call (202) 586-8800.
