Americas News
Houston's BOSTCO to Start Operations in October
The Battleground Oil Specialty Terminal (BOSTCO) on the Houston Ship Channel plans to start operations in October, Platts reports.
The operation will start with 2.84 million barrels of storage for residual fuel oil and feedstock, and the facility will add another 3.36 million barrels of capacity by early 2014.
BOSTCO is also expected to install 900,000 barrels of diesel storage capacity in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Fuel oil blenders say the new facility, which will include two ship docks and three barge docks, will open more dock space and reduce loading delays.
"BOSTCO will help to reduce the demurrage we currently pay for loading delays out at ship channel terminals," one trader said.
"The beauty about BOSTCO is the amount of available dock space."
Kinder Morgan owns a 55.5 percent share in BOSTCO, while TransMontaigne Partners L.P. [NYSE:TLP] (TransMontaigne), the company that started the project in 2010 but later sold its share, rejoined it in December by acquiring a 42.5 percent interest for $79 million.
Project founder John McDonald owns the remaining 2 percent.
The residual oil and feedstock storage space is already fully subscribed by eight companies, including Valero, Unipec USA, Glencore, and Tauber, while the distillates storage is entirely subscribed by Morgan Stanley.
