Aramco Trading Americas, the energy trading arm of Saudi Aramco, has entered into a multi-year terminal services agreement with FTAI Infrastructure's subsidiary, Jefferson Energy.  

This deal will see an increase in crude oil supply at Jefferson Energy's main terminal in Beaumont, Texas.  

It involves enhancing the Jefferson Southern Star Pipeline to support bi-directional flow, which will boost the terminal's capacity. 

Currently, the Jefferson Southern Star Pipeline facilitates crude oil movements from Jefferson Energy's main terminal to the Motiva Port Neches terminal.  

The upgrade to bi-directional flow will enable the pipeline, with its 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) capacity, to connect directly to the Motiva-TC Energy Port Neches Link.  

This connection opens up the main terminal to additional crude oil volumes from the TC Energy Marketlink Pipeline system, which has a capacity of 750,000bpd from Cushing, Oklahoma, to the US Gulf Coast. 

Jefferson Energy's main terminal has a capacity of 6.2 million barrels of storage and serves as a multimodal transloading hub across a 250-acre site on the Neches River.  

The terminal manages both crude oil and refined products, with pipeline links to two major refineries: the 630,000bpd Motiva Port Arthur Refinery and the ExxonMobil Beaumont Refinery with the same capacity. 

Its infrastructure includes three docks capable of servicing various vessel types, more than 23 miles of rail track and four-unit train rail loading systems.  

Furthermore, it features heating and blending facilities for heavy crude oil such as Uinta Basin wax. 

FTAI Infrastructure CEO Ken Nicholson said: “We are very pleased to work with Aramco Trading Americas to develop a customised package of terminal services responsive to Aramco Trading Americas’ needs.  

“In particular, we look forward to the enhanced service optionality that will be opened up by bi-directional flow on the Jefferson Southern Star Pipeline. This important project will enable Jefferson Energy’s Main Terminal customers to access an additional major pipeline system for light crude, along with Jefferson Energy’s established connectivity to Delek’s Paline Pipeline.  

“The light crude markets made readily accessible to our customers by this project will further unlock the potential represented by Jefferson Energy’s Uinta Basin wax crude blending and handling capabilities, creating value for our customer base in handling this unique, highly sought after crude oil.” 

Last year, Aramco launched Aramco Trading Americas following the acquisition of Motiva Trading.