The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) recently approved the construction of a new deepwater port off the Texas coast, gcaptain.com reported.
The project is expected to significantly expand the United States' oil export capabilities.
The Texas GulfLink LLC (TGL) facility will be owned and operated by Sentinel Midstream LLC, gcaptain.com reported.
The port will be 26.6 nautical mi. off of Brazoria County, Texas. It includes a shoreside support facility within Freeport Harbor and will use dock space at Port Freeport Public Docks.
The project includes a deepwater port with a fixed offshore platform, 45 mi. of pipeline infrastructure and a booster station, according to gcaptain.com.
The port will be able to accommodate two large crude carriers (VLCCs) simultaneously at single point mooring (SPM) buoys with loading rates of up to 85,000 barrels per hour. Loading operations, however, will be limited to a single vessel at a time.
The approvals come after a review process that took nearly six years — a process that began on May 30, 2019, when MARAD and the U.S. Coast Guard received TGL's application. A Final Environmental Impact Statement was published on July 5, 2024, gcaptain.com reported.
"Today, we are unleashing the full power of American energy," U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said. "With this approval, we are increasing our energy revenue and unlocking our vast oil resources — not just for domestic security, but to dominate the global market.
"This plan opens the floodgates for American oil exports, putting our producers in the driver's seat and ensuring that the world looks to the United States—not foreign adversaries—for energy supply."
The TGL project is one of three oil export facilities being reviewed by MARAD, along with three pending LNG export facility applications, according to MARAD's website.
But the industry may be at a crossroads, according to gcaptain.com.
For example, Enterprise Products Partners recently announced that its Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) project — expected to be the nation's largest offshore oil export terminal — didn't have enough customer interest to proceed with commercialization.
That project, which received its deepwater port license from MARAD in April 2024, had targeted a 2027 start date, but Enterprise Products Partners has delayed a financing decision; that decision was originally anticipated in 2024, gcaptain.com reported.
In addition, the Trump administration hasn't appointed several key MARAD executives, according to the agency's website.
And the slow pace of MARAD's deepwater port licensing process under the Biden administration was often criticized, gcaptain.com reported.
In February, the U.S. Government Accountability Office published a report that said the agency is struggling with staffing challenges despite a significant budget increase.
