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Louisiana could become one of the biggest U.S. beneficiaries of a major expansion of Venezuela’s oil industry, with the state already having the infrastructure needed to process and transport the crude, The Center Square reports.
Much of Venezuela’s oil is heavy and high in sulfur, requiring specialized refining equipment, and Louisiana has 15 operating refineries with a combined crude oil capacity of about 3 million barrels per day. Venezuelan crude already flows heavily to the Gulf Coast, with 457,000 of the 471,000 barrels per day imported by the U.S. in May going to the region.
Louisiana also has the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, or LOOP, an offshore terminal capable of handling some of the world’s largest oil tankers, which cannot travel fully loaded up the Mississippi River. LOOP connects to storage facilities and pipelines serving refineries and has more than 80 million barrels of storage capacity.
As the Trump administration works to increase Venezuela’s oil production, Chevron has announced plans to invest $7 billion and increase its Venezuelan production to 600,000 barrels per day. Venezuela’s production, which has fallen to roughly 1.1 million to 1.2 million barrels per day from more than 3 million in the 1990s, could more than double under new agreements.
Increased production could benefit Louisiana’s refineries as well as offshore and marine industries in places such as Port Fourchon and Morgan City. Greater oil supplies could also lower crude prices, potentially reducing costs for gasoline, asphalt and other petroleum products.
