The Biden administration approved plans from the Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT), to build US’s largest oil export terminal off the Gulf Coast of Texas. The new terminal would add 2 million barrels per day to the US oil export capacity.
According to the US MARAD, “the construction and operation of the Port is in the national interest because the Project will benefit employment, economic growth, and U.S. energy infrastructure resilience and security. The Port will provide a reliable source of crude oil to U.S. allies in the event of market disruption.”
The offshore oil export terminal, the first to be approved of four proposed along Texas’ Gulf Coast, will enable continued growth in US shale oil production and in global consumption.
The decision requires SPOT to comply with conditions on the issuance of the permit, including state and federal permitting, detailed construction plans, and the development of operation manuals before MARAD will issue the licence.
MARAD has been reviewing the project for three years, including a final environmental impact statement and public input process that resulted in over 80,000 written comments submitted in opposition of the project.
Earlier in July, MARAD had issued an impact statement, noting that SPOT would create greenhouse gas emissions equal to 233m tons of carbon dioxide per year.
The project plan further called for the expansion of a Houston-area terminal operated by Enterprise Products Partners, which will be connected to a new onshore facility with storage capacity of 4.8m barrels. Underwater pipelines will deliver crude oil to the offshore terminal.
