U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves Among 250 Terminals Set for Maintenance this Quarter

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--As the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) prepares for record-high withdrawals to address chaotic oil markets, the SPR's storage terminals are due for upgrades. They will join many private-sector terminals in major maintenance this quarter, at a time when demand for oil and gas products is hitting unforeseen highs. Industrial Info is tracking more than 250 maintenance-related projects at oil and gas terminal facilities across the U.S. that are set to kick off through June, more than 80% of which are for the storage of refined products.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing the top parent companies for maintenance projects at U.S. oil and gas terminals that are expected to kick off from April through June.

Petroleum storage has received an unusual amount of public attention in recent weeks, as the Biden administration has agreed to release unprecedented amounts of crude from the SPR to address shortfalls in the global market, much of which has been attributed to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In March, the U.S. Department of Energy committed to releasing 30 million barrels of crude oil, the biggest withdrawal in the SPR's 46-year history. The first barrels are expected to hit the market in May.

The U.S. Department of Energy's four SPR facilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast are set to undergo upgrades this month:

• the Bayou Choctaw storage site in Plaquemine, Louisiana, which stores 74 million barrels in six salt-dome caverns
• the West Hackberry storage site in Hackberry, Louisiana, which stores 228 million barrels in 22 salt-dome caverns
• the Big Hill storage site in Hamshire, Texas, which stores 171 million barrels in 14 salt-dome caverns
• the Bryan Mound storage site in Freeport, Texas, which stores 254 million barrels in 20 salt-dome caverns

Each project is set to wrap up toward the end of the year. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Terminals Project Database can read detailed project reports for the Bayou Choctaw, West Hackberry, Big Hill and Bryan Mound facilities.

The SPR is designed to hold up to 714 million barrels of crude oil across its four storage sites. In late February, the week before the U.S. Department of Energy announced its planned release, the SPR held 580 million barrels of crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Click on the image at right from a graph from the EIA detailing weekly SPR crude oil stocks, dating back to 1985.

Kinder Morgan Incorporated (NYSE:KMI) (Houston, Texas) leads all other companies in the number of maintenance-related projects at its terminals and their total investment value. More than one-third of these projects can be found in two states in which Kinder Morgan is heavily invested: California--where the company also is developing the first U.S. hub to support the transport of renewable diesel by pipeline--and Louisiana.

Kinder Morgan's California projects include annual tank inspections and upgrades at three facilities in the Bay Area: a 618,000-barrel refined products terminal in Brisbane, a 996,000-barrel gas, diesel, ethanol and jet fuel terminal in San Jose, and a 639,271-barrel petrochemicals terminal in Richmond. Each is expected to wrap up toward the end of the year. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Brisbane, San Jose and Richmond projects.

The Louisiana projects comprise annual tank inspections and upgrades at two facilities in the Baton Rouge area--a 48-tank refined products terminal in Baton Rouge and a two-tank bulk liquids terminal in Saint Gabriel--and two others in the New Orleans area--the 776,000-barrel Seven Oaks Chemicals Terminal in Westwego and the 3 million-barrel Delta Chemical Terminal in Harvey. The Delta project has the highest investment value of any individual maintenance project at an oil or gas terminal this quarter. Subscribers can read detailed reports on the Baton Rouge, Saint Gabriel, Seven Oaks and Delta projects.

Other companies preparing for major maintenance kickoffs this quarter include Magellan Midstream Partners LP (NYSE:MMP) (Tulsa, Oklahoma), Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) (Findlay, Ohio) and NuStar Energy LP (NYSE:NS) (San Antonio, Texas). Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Project Database can click here for a full list of maintenance-related projects at oil and gas terminal facilities across the U.S. that are set to kick off in the second quarter.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the world's leading provider of market intelligence across the upstream, midstream and downstream energy markets and all other major industrial markets. IIR's Global Market Intelligence Platform (GMI) supports our end-users across their core businesses, and helps them connect trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated project opportunities. Follow IIR on: LinkedIn.