Port officials hired a lobbying group, HillCo Partners LLC, under a contract not to exceed $100,000 for the purpose of providing “lobby and communication services regarding offshore oil terminals.” The port has been moving forward with efforts on that front after word broke in August of a new offshore deep water port facility in the Gulf of Mexico, known as Texas Gulf Terminals Project, from Trafigura U.S. Inc.

Sean Strawbridge, Port of Corpus Christi CEO, said he and other port officials met with representatives from the offices of Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick recently about the issue. They also met with the new executive director for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Toby Baker.

“Our very simple message there was Texas ports in general — the Port of Corpus Christi in particular — are extremely concerned about these new offshore buoy platforms,” Strawbridge said. “We’d like to get more information.”

“We’d like to work with the agencies to ensure that if they are going to be done, they’re going to be done in a responsible, sustainable manner and the port would certainly like a role and a seat at the table as we express our voice on those,” he continued.

Trafigura’s project will entail the installation of 26.8 miles of pipeline and other infrastructure, such as an onshore storage terminal facility and booster station, according to documents on file with the federal government. The offshore buoy system is designed to load Very Large Crude Carriers, capable of carrying up to 2 million barrels of oil, that currently cannot be fully loaded in the Port of Corpus Christi.

The system would lie outside the port, and would have pipelines running through Kleberg County, and across the Laguna Madre and  the northern part of Padre Island National Seashore into the Gulf of Mexico. It runs counter to a project the port is considering to dredge part of its channel from the Corpus Christi Ship Channel entrance to Harbor Island down to 75 feet.

That depth is needed to accommodate the full loading of VLCCs, officials have said, and an opposition group known as Port Aransas Conservancy against the dredging project have said they support the idea of an offshore terminal similar to Trafigura’s.

“Our deep water port facility will both build U.S. export capacity and create jobs in Texas,” Trafigura officials said in a statement on Tuesday. “In the short-term, the project will employ over 700 construction workers, while its operations will create approximately 50 full-time jobs and hundreds of additional jobs related to servicing operations.

“Over the long-term, the Deep Water Port will support Texas’ energy sector by providing some of the needed infrastructure necessary to ensure that the anticipated surplus of Texas crude oil will have greater access to the global market,” the statement continued. “It will complement, not replace, exports from the Port of Corpus Christi as the facility will handle only about 10 percent of the expected growth in U.S. oil production.”

The location of the proposed system, though, has some port officials concerned, particularly as it relates to possible oil spills and governmental oversight.

“I may not (be) supposed to be saying this, but make no mistake about it — the location of the offshore buoy that Trafigura is proposing is bad for the (Padre Island) National Seashore, it’s bad for Port Aransas and it’s bad for the Port of Corpus Christi, period,” Port Commissioner Richard Valls Jr. said.

“I’m not against offshore buoys at all — we’ve looked at those on a number of locations internally — but that location doesn’t make sense, and we should do whatever it is as a community to fight it,” he added. “And I wish Port Aransas would get on board.”

Trafigura officials said they were committed to operating their offshore facility in a responsible manner.

“Texas Gulf Terminals will be working with federal and state agencies to address any concerns as we move through the permitting process,” the statement said. “As outlined in our permit application, TGTP will follow a ‘zero spill’ philosophy. The project will fully comply with the 1990 Oil Pollution Act (OPA) standards and requirements. In addition, the project will have a spill response plan approved by the U.S. Coast Guard.“

Port Commission Chairman Charlie Zahn, though, took his concerns one step further. He maintained the project would not be subject to state oversight, which should be a concern to state and local officials.

“We made them aware that state sovereignty was being attacked, we made them aware that there would be no regulatory oversight from TCEQ or the Railroad Commission or Parks and Wildlife,” Zahn said. “So, I think we got some people’s attention, and we need to continue to do that.”

“The governor has the absolute right to kill that deal, and so we’re working on that,” he added. 

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