Texas Crude Pipelines Reaching Capacity: Bloomberg

Key pipelines transporting oil from the Permian basin to the Port of Corpus Cristi are over 90% full, with congestion expected to worsen, Bloomberg said.

• By H2 2025, they could hit 94-95% capacity.
• The pipeline supply crunch comes as US output is near an all-time high and is likely to be at a new record level by next year.
• Around half of US production comes from the Permian basin, so unless additional pipeline capacity can be found, the rising US production will not be able to reach the international market.
• If US crude output stalls, it could create pockets of domestic oversupply domestically but tightness in other markets.
• Some oil could be rerouted to Houston, while there is also a plan to expand the Gray Oak pipeline system to reduce bottlenecks at Corpus Cristi.
• However, even expanding Gray Oak by 120k b/d won’t push overall regional utilisation below 90%.