LOOP’s deepwater port recently unloaded its 10,000th crude oil vessel. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port’s marine terminal has accepted crude oil from tankers around the globe since 1981, sending more than 13 billion barrels inland by pipeline to storage facilities in south Lafourche and on to refineries across the country. The facility now receives oil directly from pipelines tied to deepwater platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, from smaller ships that carry it from other parts of the country and via pipeline from Texas oilfields.
LOOP is a joint venture of Marathon Pipe Line, Shell Oil Co. and Valero Terminalling and Distribution Co. “International tankers were LOOP’s primary customers for many years, but that began changing 20 years ago and that trend has accelerated most recently”, said Tom Shaw, the operation’s President. “Today, the majority of the crude LOOP receives is produced domestically.”