Reaching tidewater: Assessing US Gulf Coast crude loading capacity

Over the previous five years the US has vaulted up the list of crude exporting nations at a breakneck pace. Prior to the COVID market downturn, US midstream companies were scrambling to ensure sufficient infrastructure to provide ample access to global markets for US producers. Those concerns dulled in line with stagnating US production over the past two years. However, with US export volumes breaching new all-time highs in recent months, the question of US waterborne crude loading capacity is moving back to the fore. In this report, we refresh our bottoms-up terminal level loading capacity assessments, highlighting changes in our views on capacity, identifying potential constraint points, and looking at future growth projects.