By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, June 12 -- Unocal Midstream & Trade (UMT), a unit of Unocal Corp., is holding an open season to offer crude oil port and pipeline transportation services from its proposed Bulk Oil Offshore Transfer System (BOOTS) facility in the Gulf of Mexico.
BOOTS, which will lie in the deepwater gulf 100 miles south of Beaumont, Tex., will be capable of offloading tankers with capacity of as much as 2 million bbl of oil at rates as high as 1.2 million b/d of oil, UMT said. BOOTS also would be capable of receiving vessels transporting oil from deepwater production fields in the gulf, UMT added. "BOOTS will deliver crude oil via new pipelines to existing refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast and will have access to other inland refineries via existing pipeline and terminal facilities," the Unocal unit explained.
UMT's open season, announced Tuesday, will last for 24 days and offers the remaining 700,000 b/d of firm capacity from BOOTS.
Once UMT has the additional commitments, said Joseph Blount, UMT president, the unit will be able to proceed with the deepwater port permit application process.
Project details
The proposed BOOTS facility will consist of a pumping platform; two single-point moorings (SPMs); a 100 mile, 48/42-in. pipeline to Unocal's Beaumont terminal, which has 7.5 million bbl of crude oil and product storage capacity, and to connections to major existing pipeline systems into and out of the Texas Gulf Coast area; and a 50 mile, 42-in. pipeline to Texas City, Tex.
The system could be in operation by early 2007, UMT said. BOOTS LLC is seeking financing for the project to offset most of the proposed project capital costs, which total about $500 million.