News
Enterprise, TEPPCO and Oiltanking Plan Texas Offshore Crude Oil Port and Pipeline System
22.08.2008 - Hamburg/Houston :
Hamburg/Houston August 22, 2008 – Oiltanking announces that it has formed a joint venture with Enterprise Products Partners L.P. and TEPPCO Partners, L.P. to design, construct, own and operate a new Texas offshore crude oil port and pipeline system to facilitate delivery of waterborne crude oil to refining centres along the upper Texas Gulf Coast. The initiative will provide an efficient alternative to offshore lightering and inland dock operations.
The Texas Offshore Port System (“TOPS”) project will include an offshore port, two onshore storage facilities with approximately 5.1 million barrels of total crude oil storage capacity, and an associated 160-mile pipeline system with the capacity to transport up to 1.8 million barrels per day (BPD) of crude oil. The development of the offshore port system and onshore infrastructure is supported by long-term contracts with Motiva Enterprises LLC and Exxon Mobil Corporation.
Affiliates of Enterprise, TEPPCO and Oiltanking each have a one-third ownership in the new joint venture and expect to invest approximately $600 million each in the initiative, which, subject to obtaining certain regulatory approvals and permits, is scheduled to begin service in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Of the 3.9 million BPD (including planned and announced expansions) that are processed daily by the refineries at the Texas Gulf Coast, TOPS will particularly serve the approximately 2.5 million BPD which are imported on vessels that require lightering services. Given the forecasted increased shipping traffic resulting from incoming crude oil supplies and operating limitations in the ship channels, the TOPS project offers refiners another delivery option with added flexibility and enhanced reliability. TOPS is designed to allow operations 24 hours per day without restrictions on movements and vessel size that limit most ship channels. TOPS will be able to accommodate the largest vessels which can carry approximately 3 million barrels of crude oil.
Each of the partners brings experience and know-how to TOPS, which is a necessary to provide refiners with cost savings, operating efficiencies and access to additional supplies beyond the Gulf Coast region for years to come.
For Oiltanking, the investment in TOPS complements its other Gulf Coast terminals and is another step toward the goal of becoming a premier crude oil and chemical feedstock terminal company in North America.
Oiltanking is a subsidiary of Marquard & Bahls AG, Germany, a leading privately owned petroleum company. Oiltanking is the second-largest independent tank storage provider for petroleum products, chemicals and gases world-wide. Excluding the 16 Bolivian terminals, the company owns and operates 62 terminals in 20 countries within Europe, North and South America, Middle East, India as well as Asia. Oiltanking has an overall capacity of 13 million cubic meters.
For more information about Oiltanking or Marquard & Bahls AG, please visit www.oiltanking.com and www.mbholding.com
About Enterprise:
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships with an enterprise value of approximately $21 billion, and is a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil and petrochemicals. Enterprise transports natural gas, NGLs, crude oil and petrochemical products through more than 35,000 miles of onshore and offshore pipelines. Services include natural gas gathering, processing, transportation and storage; NGL fractionation (or separation), transportation, storage and import and export terminaling; crude oil transportation; offshore production platform services; and petrochemical pipeline and services. For more information, visit Enterprise on the web. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is managed by its general partner, Enterprise Products GP, LLC, which is wholly-owned by Enterprise GP Holdings L.P. (NYSE: EPE), which has an enterprise value of approximately $6 billion. For more information on Enterprise GP Holdings L.P., visit www.enterprisegp.com.
About TEPPCO:
TEPPCO Partners, L.P., a publicly traded partnership with an enterprise value of approximately $5 billion, is a diversified energy logistics company with operations that span much of the continental United States. TEPPCO owns and operates an extensive network of assets that facilitate the movement, marketing, gathering and storage of various commodities and energy-related products. The partnership’s midstream network is comprised of approximately 12,500 miles of pipelines that gather and transport refined petroleum products, crude oil, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gases (LPGs) and natural gas liquids, including one of the largest common carrier pipelines for refined petroleum products and LPGs in the United States. Including joint venture ownership, TEPPCO’s storage assets include approximately 27 million barrels of capacity for refined petroleum products and LPGs and about 14 million barrels of capacity for crude oil. TEPPCO also owns a marine business that transports refined petroleum products, crude oil and lube products via tow boats and tank barges. For more information, visit TEPPCO’s website. Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Company, LLC, the general partner of TEPPCO Partners, L.P., is owned by Enterprise GP Holdings.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Jan Vogel
General Manager
Europe, North & South America
Oiltanking GmbH
Tel: +49 40 370 990
Kim M. Ivy
Oiltanking Americas Inc.
Media Relations
Tel: +1 281 457 7950