But one key voice was missing from the celebration: Texas developer GulfLink. Dallas-based Sentinel Midstream declined to comment on the administration’s announcement, and has not issued any news releases for the politically-focused project approval.

Sentinel’s silence is a symptom of a larger disconnect in the gulf. What used to be a race to build a series of deepwater terminals before the pandemic—including the involvement of household names such as Phillips 66 and Chevron—are now silent on stalled projects that may never come to fruition.

There isn’t enough crude oil demand or customer support to justify building it, even though U.S. oil output is hovering near all-time highs, energy analysts say. At best, the projects could be repeated in 2027, when and if the US oil industry recovers from a weak price environment, said Keland Rumsey, energy market analyst at East Daley Analytics.

“Honestly, in the short term, it’s not really necessary, or that these people will be motivated to actually build offshore export facilities,” Rumsey said. lucknoted that the potential flow of more Venezuelan oil creates more uncertainty.

Shifting goals

When Congress lifted the country’s 40-year ban on oil exports — in place since the Arab oil embargo — at the end of 2015, US oil production increased. Companies built oil-export terminals to ship Permian Basin oil overseas from the Houston Ship Channel and the Port of Corpus Christi.

The US now routinely exports more than 4 million barrels of crude oil per day—as much as Iraq pumps out of the ground in its entirety.

Only got one. The largest crude oil tankers, VLCCs—yes, they’re called Very Large Crude Carriers—can’t dock or fill all the way to Texas ports because of the shallower water depth. Instead, small tankers must load the crude oil and then transfer the oil to VLCCs in deeper waters—a more time-consuming and expensive exercise in the ocean.

So, came the idea—and the ensuing mad dash—to license and build deepwater oil terminals off the coast of Texas.

The main contenders are Enterprise Products Partners’ Sea Port Oil Terminal, called SPOT, with Chevron signed on as an anchor customer; Texas GulfLink; Blue Marlin Project on Energy Transfer; and Phillips 66’s Bluewater terminal.

However, as the race heated up, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the oil markets temporarily collapsed. Since the terminals are proposed offshore, they need US Coast Guard and Maritime Administration approvals for a new type of infrastructure. The Biden administration isn’t exactly fast-tracking the process.

By the time the first project, Enterprise’s SPOT, is fully licensed in 2024, Chevron has stepped down as the anchor customer and is also the joint venture developer, Enbridge.

Instead of exporting more crude oil, Chevron said it decided to focus on refining its domestic bulk oil into petroleum products, such as diesel and jet fuel, and then export the higher-value products.

Business spokesman Rick Rainey said the company is “still working to market the project” to potential customers, and then decide whether to proceed with construction or not.

SPOT Funding

Enterprise co-CEO Jim Teague last mentioned SPOT during an earnings call 12 months ago, when he complained about the lengthy approval process and said SPOT should be the “poster child” for reform. But he acknowledges that the fundamentals of the industry have also changed.

Teague said the industry is wrongly predicting that crude oil exports will grow even more at present. He added that because of Europe’s distance from Russian oil after the invasion of Ukraine, more US oil will go to Europe instead of Asia. Shorter voyages to Europe do not require as many of the largest tankers—reducing the need for deep terminals.

“We haven’t gotten enough traction to commercialize SPOT, yet we continue to promote SPOT because we’re the only company with a license to build it,” Teague said a year ago.

Now, Texas GulfLink is also licensed, but it doesn’t seem ready to act on its license at this time.

The Blue Marlin and Bluewater projects remain unlicensed. Energy Transfer has not discussed its project in an earnings call since 2024 and, for Phillips 66, it will be even longer.

Phillips 66 still has pending emissions issues with the project’s air permit application under the Environmental Protection Agency. Phillips 66 spokesman Al Ortiz said in a statement, “We will await the decisions and next steps of the permitting agencies.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration remains bullish about the Texas GulfLink license.

“The war on American oil and gas is over,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. “The Texas GulfLink project is proof that when we cut unnecessary red tape and free our sector from fossil fuels, we create jobs at home and stability overseas. This critical deepwater port will allow the US to export our vast resources faster than ever before.”