Texas City Takes on Trading Giant in Testy Fight for Oil Exports

  • Billions of dollars at stake as new pipelines serve shale boom
  • New terminals are aiming to cater for largest tankers
The tanker Maria sails out of the Port of Corpus Christi after discharging crude oil at the Citgo refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Photographer: Eddie Seal/Bloomberg

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Trafigura Group Ltd., the world’s third-largest independent oil trader, is fine as a customer. But the Port of Corpus Christi doesn’t want to see it as a competitor with billions of dollars at stake.

Port officials are urging Trafigura to scrap a proposed export terminal located 13 miles off the coast that would compete with an onshore expansion by the port. The proposals come at a time when analysts see U.S. crude exports exceeding 8 million barrels a day after 2021, supported by a growing system of new pipelines now being built to serve the Permian Basin.