Enterprise: Upgrade the ship channel

Pipeline operator says surging energy exports and profits demand a wider, deeper waterway

Houston pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners is leading efforts to widen and deepen the Houston Ship Channel amid surging energy exports and profits.

During a Wednesday investors call, Enterprise CEO Jim Teague said that growing U.S. production of crude oil and natural gas liquids from the Permian Basin and other shale plays mean more exports. on which company’s network of pipelines and export terminals is prepared to capitalize. Part of Enterprise’s growth plans include lobbying federal officials to widen and deepen the Houston Ship Channel..

Under the proposed expansion plan, the Houston Ship Channel would be widened from 530 feet to 700 feet from Galveston Bay to the Fred Hartman Bridge. The channel also would be deepened to a uniform 45 deep all way from Galveston Bay to City Docks, just inside Loop 610.

“Houston is the energy capital of the world,” Teague said. “We have oil. We have natural gas. We have natural gas liquids. We have refining. We have petrochemicals, we have pipelines. We have docks and last, but not least, we have the Houston Ship Channel. Over the next few months, you can expect to see a heightened awareness on the importance of this waterway, not just to Texas in the U.S., but to the world.”

The energy export boom helped propel the second quarter earnings of Enterprise, the nations largest exporter of crude oil and natural gas liquids, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling that are feedstocks for petrochemicals. Enterprise’s profits surged 80 percent to $1.2 billion from $674 million in the same period in 2018 while earnings per share climbed to 55 cents from 31 cents.

Teague has already found allies for the ship channel expansion. Greater Houston Port Bureau Vice President Christine Schlenker said record volumes moving

through marine terminals owned by Enterprise and other companies are part of a larger picture of growth.

“Enterprise and many other ship channel companies have shown they are committed to investing in the Houston port region for long-term, sustainable growth,” Schlenker said in

a statement. “The Greater Houston Port Bureau will continue to work alongside our members such as Enterprise, our industry partners, and Port Houston to advocate for a wider, deeper Houston Ship Channel to enable that growth”

The proposal comes as the Port of Corpus Christi is also seeking to boost exports by widening and deepening its ship channel to accommodate supertanker

traffic.

“All of Texas needs improved coastal navigation infrastructure,” Port of Corpus Christi CEO Sean Strawbridge said. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in dire need of more resources to execute on these projects.”

Apart from is plans to grow along the Houston Shipo Channel, Enterprise made a final investment decision on the company's

proposed offshore crude oil export terminal after signing two deals with oil giant Chevron on Monday. Dubbed the Sea Port Oil Terminal, or SPOT, the proposed offshore crude oil export terminal is located rougly 30 miles from the Brazoria County coast in 115-foot deep water.

SPOT would have access to more than 6 million barrels a day of crude oil with more than 300 million barrels

of storage, of which Enterprise owns nearly onesixth. Pending federal approval, the offshore facility would also accommodate Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCC tankers, which can carry 2 million barrels of crude oil in a single shipment.

“The SPOT facility provides opportunity to significantly expand our export capacity and access multiple market centers as we increase

our crude oil produced out of the Permian,” George Wall, Chevron’s president of supply and trading said. Chevron President of Supply & Trading George Wall said.

Founded in 1968 and headquartered in Houston, Enterprise has more than 7,000 employees across the United States.