Federal regulators have approved plans for a new $1 billion crude oil terminal off the coast of Cameron Parish, the latest in a string of major investments in Louisiana’s energy sector.
The U.S. Maritime Administration on Tuesday approved an application for the Blue Marlin Offshore Port, which, at full capacity, will be able to export nearly 2 million barrels per day — nearly half of all annual U.S. crude oil exports — from a converted gas platform about 99 miles off the coast of southwest Louisiana.
Energy Transfer, the Dallas-based company behind the offshore facility, plans to convert an existing natural gas pipeline to carry the oil out to sea. At the same time, the company would also build a new, 37-mile pipeline to run from the company’s Nederland crude oil terminal near Port Arthur, Texas across Sabine Lake to a compression station on the Louisiana coast…