Sentinel Midstream CEO Jeff Ballard said last week his company expects to receive all permits by 2024Q1 so construction can begin on Texas GulfLink, which plans to load up to 1 million barrels of oil per day by 2026 for global markets. Texas GulfLink is one of at least four proposed deepwater oil export terminals along the U.S. Gulf Coast with pending applications before the deepwater port licensing program of U.S. Maritime Administration. All will be capable of handling VLCCs (very large crude carriers).
Texas GulfLink will receive crude oil through an onshore pipeline from Houston into above-ground storage tanks near Jones Creek. The crude will be transported via a 42-inch offshore pipeline to one of two floating mooring buoys in Gulf of Mexico about 26.6 miles offshore from Freeport in Brazoria County. Sentinel is backed by Cresta Fund Management.
Sentinel filed its application in 2019 and was the first of these projects to receive a draft environmental impact statement from the federal government. Bloomberg said Texas GulfLink will help “usher in the massive growth in U.S. crude exports by the end of the decade.”