Offshore oil terminal proposed for Texas
Texas Offshore Port System (TOPS), an oil terminal and pipeline to be built of Texas coast, would be capable of handling nearly 20 percent of the nation's daily oil imports. A 160 mile pipeline network connected to offshore pumping stations would enable tankers to unload crude about 36 miles off the coast of Freeport, Texas. This would eliminate the requirement for the world's largest super tankers to offload crude to smaller vessels so it can be carried to refineries along the Houston Ship Channel. TOPS will be similar to the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), which handles about 12 percent of the nation's crude imports. LOOP has been around since 1981 and is tied by pipeline to about half the nation's refining capacity, much of it along the Mississippi River from the New Orleans area north to Baton Rouge.
The Texas Offshore Port System, or TOPS, is a joint venture of Enterprise Products Partners LP and Teppco Partners LP, both based in Houston, and Oiltanking Holding Americas Inc., a subsidiary of Germany's privately held Marquard & Bahls AG.
