First post-ban U.S. crude oil export cargo booked

DECEMBER 24, 2015 — A 600,000 barrel cargo of domestic light crude oil looks likely to be first export cargo of U.S. crude oil since a 40 year ban was ended in the just enacted omnibus spending bill.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) today announced that it has agreed to provide pipeline and marine terminal services to load its first export of crude oil produced in the United States under the law enacted earlier this month. The 600,000 barrel cargo of domestic light crude oil is scheduled to load at the Enterprise Hydrocarbon Terminal (EHT) on the Houston Ship Channel during the first week of January 2016.

“We are excited to announce our first contract to export U.S. crude oil, which to our knowledge may be the first export cargo of U.S. crude oil from the Gulf Coast in almost 40 years,” said A.J. “Jim” Teague, chief operating officer of Enterprise’s general partner. “Enterprise’s integrated system enabled us to quickly respond to customer demand for U.S. crude oil by international markets.”

According to media reports, the cargo is being shipped for Swiss based trading company Vitol and consists of light sweet crude from the Eagle Ford shale region in South Texas.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals. Its services include: natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transportation and storage; NGL transportation, fractionation, storage and import and export terminals; crude oil gathering, transportation, storage and terminals; petrochemical and refined products transportation, storage and terminals; and a marine transportation business that operates primarily on the U.S. inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems.