Blue Marlin Oil Port Gets U.S. License with Capacity to Export 2 Million Barrels a Day
Key Facts
The U.S. Department of Transportation said on November 5 that the U.S. Maritime Administration had approved a license application for the Blue Marlin deepwater port off the coast of Louisiana. The proposed facility is estimated to cost $1 billion, and the department says it is designed to export up to 2 million barrels of crude a day, at a loading rate of 80,000 barrels an hour. The license is a regulatory step for the project led by Energy Transfer, but does not by itself mean construction or commercial operations will begin. The department says the port will allow supertankers to load crude directly in deep water. It says this could ease congestion at inland ports and reduce the risks of vessel collisions and safety hazards.
The planned port is about 99 miles off the coast of Cameron Parish, Louisiana, within the West Cameron Block 509 offshore complex. The company intends to use existing platform infrastructure, converting it to serve the facility. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, crude will be transported from Energy Transfer's Nederland terminal in Texas through a new 42-inch onshore pipeline. The route will then connect to the existing 36-inch Stingray mainline, reaching the offshore platform complex. This infrastructure defines the proposed route for moving crude from the terminal to tankers, using a new onshore pipeline and an existing offshore line.
The Department of Transportation says the project could support up to 1,052 jobs during construction. The department links the site's importance to the ability to load supertankers directly in deep water, rather than relying on inland port facilities. The design, it says, could ease congestion and reduce collision and safety risks associated with vessel traffic. The announced maximum capacity is 2 million barrels a day, while the specified loading rate is 80,000 barrels an hour. These are design figures for the proposed project, not data on current exports or actual production.
The project's final environmental impact statement was published on July 16, 2026, before the license announcement. The Federal Register said the statement analyzes potential environmental impacts and available alternatives, including the option of taking no action. The Maritime Administration and Coast Guard also held two public hearings in Louisiana and Texas on August 4 and 5, with August 5 as the deadline for written comments. The Federal Register described the application as a project to export domestically produced crude, with a maximum loading volume of about 2 million barrels a day over 365 days a year. These steps show that review of the project and its regulatory process preceded the Maritime Administration's approval announced in November.
Air permits remain a regulatory process separate from the port license. On September 28, the Environmental Protection Agency published a notice on draft permits and set October 29 as the deadline for comments and the date of a public hearing. The agency said its decision to issue or deny the permits would follow consideration of the comments. On October 1, it had announced that the proposed actions, if approved, would allow exports of about 80,000 barrels an hour and about 605 million barrels a year. The Maritime Administration's approval of the port license application was announced on November 5.
The project has a prior marketing agreement, but remains subject to further steps. On November 16, 2023, Energy Transfer announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding with TotalEnergies to market 4 million barrels of crude a month from Blue Marlin. The agreement is contingent on final agreements and Energy Transfer making a final investment decision. In market data reported by "L7," the company's unit closed at $19.43 on November 10, 2026, compared with a close of $18.92 on November 6. The project's next steps remain tied to resolving the relevant permits, completing final agreements and making an investment decision.