Known as LOOP, the facility is the only spot in the U.S. capable of receiving deliveries from supersize oil tankers. It has been taking in 15 to 20 percent less foreign crude oil this year because of a depressed demand for energy, spokeswoman Barb Hestermann says.
“We think this trend is going to continue,” Hestermann said. “The demand has been lowered.”
Partially offsetting the decrease in foreign supplies, Hestermann said, is an increasing stream from deepwater oil-and-gas developments, like BP’s Thunder Horse platform and Shell’s Mars platform and a host of other wells hooked into the same network of pipelines.
LOOP is now handling about 10 percent of the nation’s domestic production. Hestermann says she expects that stream to increase as more and more deepwater oil and gas is produced.
BP spokesman Daren Beaudo said the company produced an average of about 284,000 barrels of oil or gas equivalent per day in 2008, a figure that has increased to well over 400,000 per day in 2009.
In addition, the port has begun to explore adding three to 12 additional tanks to its existing dozen tank in a space adjacent to the port.
“We’ve had several customers that have expressed interest in expanding long-term storage at LOOP,” Hestermann said. “It gives (customers) the flexibility to market the barrels.”
It also gives LOOP a greater opportunity to store different types of crude oil, said Eric Smith, a professor and associate director of Tulane Energy Institute at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Different sites produce crude with varying levels of sulfur, which is filtered out as a waste product in the refining process.
Smith explains that the drop in imports has come in response to the production levels set by OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. In 2008, the United States imported about 57 percent of its oil.
Though imports are flagging for the moment and deepwater production is on the rise, analysts say the U.S. is a long way from being self-sufficient for its energy production.
“I think we’re going to be importing oil at high levels for a long time to come,” Smith said.