“We’re trying to start and write a new chapter of the book at
Located near the confluence of the
At A Glance
Ranked among the largest tankers in the world, VLCCs can hold up to 2 million barrels of crude oil, making them attractive to exporters because moving so much crude in one shipment lowers transportation costs. The
A Belgian-flagged tanker named the Aral arrived at Moda’s facility on
Moda’s export terminal is expected to receive three more VLCCs over the next month. Because a fully loaded VLCC can require up to 66 feet of water, the 45-foot depth of the Corpus
Moda aims to capitalize on the record production of crude oil and natural gas liquids in the
In addition to the Cactus Pipeline, several other projects to carry crude from
The pipeline subsidiary of
In all, McCall expects oil producers to be moving some 3.5 million barrels of crude oil a day to the Coastal Bend by 2020. With about 1 million of those barrels heading to refineries and chemical plants, the remaining 2.5 million barrels is available to be shipped to foreign markets, positioning the
Moda is addding 19 storage tanks that, once complete, will give the company 12 million barrels of crude oil storage in
Supersized Plans
Founded by McCall and three former executives with German crude oil shipping company
Before it sold the facility to Moda,
Pipelines from the
“A barrel that leaves (
But Moda isn’t alone. Many many other companies operating along the Corpus
Like VLCCs, Suezmax tankers can only be partially loaded in the
“Nobody else in the gulf is going to have that capability, not
The channel improvement project is expected to be completed by 2022. Even then, the channel won’t be deep enough to fully load VLCCs.
But other companies aim to solve the channel depth problem by developing export terminals in the Gulf of
Swiss trading firm Trafigura is seeking permission from federal regulators to build an offshore export terminal near
Federal reviews for the offshore terminal projects are expected to take at least a year. During that time, Ackerman said, Moda will continue to build its customer base and export from
“What we are providing to customers are solutions right now,” Ackerman said.. “We’re loading VLCCs in a very efficient manner and getting them to global markets.”
@SergioChapa on Twitter
___
(c)2019 the Houston Chronicle
Visit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.