America’s Rise as an Energy Export Powerhouse Hinges on One Town
livemint.comThe U.S. has transformed global markets by boosting crude-oil exports more than 30-fold over the past decade. Much of the boom hinges on Corpus Christi Bay.
In the first four months of 2023, about half of the country’s 4.1 million barrels of daily shipments abroad was loaded onto skyscraper-size tankers from this stretch of Texas coastline, destined to become fuel for overseas travelers or factories. That gusher of supply has helped blunt the increase in prices from recent production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia. In Europe, oil and natural gas shipped from the Gulf Coast have backstopped the continent as it weaned itself off Russian energy after the outbreak of the war on Ukraine.
Corpus Christi has become the dominant U.S. hub, siphoning crude from elsewhere thanks to unique terminals that make it cheaper than competitors. Now, ballooning trade from the port has put the U.S.
on pace to pump out record oil exports this year, according to federal record-keepers. But with pipelines nearing capacity and U.S. output set to reach new heights, competition is heating up among companies and investors over how to connect the American oil patch to a fuel-hungry world.
“The market is totally focused on taking shale production from the U.S. into international markets," said Rusty Braziel, chief executive of consulting firm RBN Energy. Corpus Christi is the closest deep-draft port to the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico, America’s hottest oil field.
Crude extracted from shale rock there, prized by overseas refineries for its light, sweet quality, trades at a premium to many other grades. That oil was confined stateside as the shale boom unleashed unprecedented U.S. production growth.
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