Port of Corpus Christi, dependent on production from Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale, broke volume records at yearend 2020 with 55 percent of market share of U.S. crude exports, but S&P Global Platts said its exports are expected to decline in 2021 as rival ports rebound and global demand remains relatively weak. Corpus Christi crude exports grew from about 500,000 b/d in early 2019 to 1.3 million b/d by yearend 2019 as new Permian Basin pipelines came online. The pandemic dropped exports from 1.5 million b/d in February 2020 to 1.2 million b/d in April before returning to 1.9 million b/d in December 2020. For the entirety of 2020, the port averaged about 48 percent of all U.S. crude exports.
S&P Global Platts added, “But with the lingering pandemic and Permian producers maintaining capital discipline despite rising crude prices, the Port of Corpus Christi sees its crude export volumes falling below 1.5 million b/d in 2021 to as low as a yearly average of 1.3 million b/d.” The port faces increased competition from Houston Ship Channel and Louisiana Offshore Oil Port. Kendrick Rhea of East Daley Capital told Platts, “Corpus Christi isn’t really going to pick up the incremental growth that comes in the near term. That growth is going to start shifting back over to Houston.”