Last Thursday marked a historic day for the Texas oil and gas industry, reports Bloomberg. The first U.S. shipment of crude oil to an overseas buyer departed Corpus Christi last week. The Theo T tanker left NuStar Energy LP’s dockside facility along the western shore of the Gulf of Mexico, heading for Italy. The tanker is carrying a cargo of oil and condensate from ConocoPhillips’s wells in south Texas.
The crude was sold to Swiss trading house Vitol Group. Congress decided to lift the 1970s-era export prohibition on Dec. 18. The move is part of a congressional effort to try to buffer the slumping oil and gas industry.
Several oil companies lobbied for the legislation, including Continental Resources Inc., Chevron and Exxon Mobil. A second cargo of U.S.-sourced crude is scheduled to depart a Houston port this week.