May 05, 2026 [Reuters]- Oil transportation and storage company Sentinel Midstream said on Tuesday ‌it would immediately begin construction of its deepwater oil export project off the Texas coast, marking the first development of a large-scale export project in the United States in years.

Sentinel expects to begin commercial operations of the Texas GulfLink system by the fourth quarter of ​2028, said Bruce Heine, the company’s senior VP for public affairs, adding the company will begin excavation activities ​soon and commit to acquiring equipment that has a long-lead time.

Sentinel will lead the development of Texas GulfLink, overseeing construction, commercial operations, and long-term ​management of the terminal, the Dallas-based company said in a statement, adding that the funding provided under the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement underscores ‌continued ⁠international confidence in U.S. energy infrastructure and supports the expansion of American crude oil exports to global markets.

The offshore project, set to be situated about 30 miles off Freeport, Texas, aims to be able to fully load a supertanker with about 2 million barrels of oil in a day.

Currently only one U.S. port, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, can fully ​load supertankers. Other facilities can ​only load a supertanker ⁠partially, requiring them to use smaller ships to ferry crude to the larger vessel to fill it, adding to shipping costs.

The last proposed U.S. deepwater project – Enterprise Products Partners’ Sea ​Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) – stalled last year as it did not receive enough customer interest.

Enterprise had blamed ​regulatory delays under ⁠the previous Biden administration and a shift in global oil flows after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which pushed U.S. vessels more to Europe instead of Asia, which were primarily geared to using supertankers that would load at these deepwater ports.

However, the recent ⁠war in ​Iran has starved Asian oil companies of oil from the Middle ​East, forcing them to turn to U.S. crude. U.S. exports of oil to Asia touched a record 2.31 million barrels per day in April, and ​overtook shipments to Europe.