Louisiana crude terminal will have capacity doubled
U.S. Development Group (USDG), a Houston-based developer of unit train logistics and terminal facilities, said Wednesday that it is expanding its St. James Rail Terminal (SJRT), a crude oil and condensate handling and distribution hub located in the Gulf Coast region of Louisiana.
Expected to be completed by the 2011 fourth quarter, the expansion will double the terminal’s current capacity to 130,000 bpd, or two unit trains/day.
SJRT is part of a nationwide network of crude oil/condensate facilities being developed by USDG, along with the recently-announced Eagle Ford crude terminal in Gardendale, Texas, scheduled to open in July.
USDG, which pioneered the crude-by-rail/unit train hub concept, is actively developing several new origin and destination hub facilities, it said.
The company plans to construct five such facilities within the next 18 months in order to extend its leadership in crude oil rail network solutions.
The expanding USDG network will offer capacity for significantly higher rail volumes of oil and condensate from the Bakken, Eagle Ford, Niobrara and other major production areas into refining and oil distribution centers on the East, Gulf and West coasts of North America.
“Since beginning operations in summer 2010, our St. James terminal has experienced strong demand from producers and marketers looking to obtain the best value for their oil. In addition, the St. James Rail Terminal allows our refiner/blender customers to benefit from a steady supply of high-quality sweet crude,” said Mike Day, U.S. Development Group vice president.
Served by the Union Pacific Railroad, U.S. Development Group’s St. James facility is currently receiving manifest and unit train shipments of crude oil, condensate and related products from the Bakken and Eagle Ford Shale plays.
SJRT is connected via pipeline to an adjacent state-of-the-art crude oil/condensate storage terminal operated by Plains Marketing.
The expanded SJRT unit train facility will consist of approximately seven miles of rail track and a fully automated 52-spot high-speed railcar offloading rack.
Comments