February 19, 2026 [RBN Energy]- President Trump announced on Tuesday, February 17, a $550 billion trade agreement between the United States and Japan, with roughly $36 billion allocated to three major U.S. oil, gas, and critical mineral projects, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The first deal is a $33 billion investment in SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy’s ‘Portsmouth Powered Land Project.’ This project is a proposed 9.2 GW gas-fired power complex in Ohio, capable of producing roughly the output of nine nuclear reactors. A facility of that scale could require approximately 1.5 to 2 Bcf/d of natural gas, depending on efficiency and utilization rates, placing it in the same range as the feedgas demand of a large LNG export complex.

The second deal includes a $2.1 billion investment in Sentinel Midstream’s Texas GulfLink deepwater crude export facility. Located 26.6 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas, this terminal is designed to load Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) directly offshore, adding to the U.S.’s structural export capacity.

As outlined in our Crude Voyager report, U.S. crude exports currently average between 3.5 MMb/d and 4.5 MMb/d, with barrels flowing to Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. Much of today’s crude export logistics depend on partial loading at onshore docks, reverse lightering offshore due to draft limitations at traditional ports. As of February 2026, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) remains the only U.S. terminal capable of fully loading a VLCC. The addition of a new deepwater facility connected directly to onshore pipelines and capable of fully loading VLCCs could improve efficiency, reduce per barrel loading costs, and enhance the competitiveness of U.S. barrels into Asian markets.

Numerous deepwater export projects have lingered on the drawing board for years with little tangible progress. Securing a Final Investment Decision (FID) has historically proven to be the key bottleneck, and many terminals remain perpetually “in the works” without ever advancing to steel in the water. Texas GulfLink was among them, first proposed in 2019 and stuck in this limbo state, receiving a deepwater port license Record of Decision from the U.S. Maritime Administration on February 14, 2025. Securing financial support represents a critical point of progress in bringing the project to fruition.

The third and final deal included in the trade agreement includes a $600 million investment in a high-pressure, high-temperature synthetic diamond grit facility. Although receiving financial support is critical for all three of these deals, it’s important to keep in mind that execution and construction of these projects will take time and may not materialize.