Since 2005, the terminal has added 812,000 barrels in capacity, and converted and upgraded numerous existing tanks to greater concentrate on fuel oil, crude and bunker storage, said spokesman Chris Cho.

The result has been a quadrupling in black oil throughput, aided by what has become the largest heated black oil rail unloading facility in the USGC market, he said.
“We feel our Texas City location has become the premier U.S. Gulf Coast black oil hub location based on customer satisfaction, advantageous access to supply alternatives and growth in levels of throughput,” Cho said in an email. 

The last of the project is a tandem of two 50,000-barrel capacity tanks converted for fuel oil purposes; one came online in December, the other is slated for April. 

While the capacity and acreage of the terminal has increased, the number of storage tanks have been reduced to 67, from 128 in 2005. Hurricane Ike in 2008 destroyed 36 small chemical storage tanks that were never rebuilt, and storage for dirty fuels tends to occur in larger, hence fewer, tanks, he said. 

The company continues to mull an additional 1.4 million barrels of expansion to meet customer demand. 

“The success of the strategy has exceeded our expectations and we continue to evaluate additional large-scale expansion opportunities,” he said. 

That, however, would require an expansion of the terminal’s waterborne capacity, as the terminal’s three docks in Galveston Bay operate at capacity, he said.