Construction of a 730-mile oil pipeline linking the oil fields of West Texas and Eagle Ford Shale to the Port of Corpus Christi should begin in June. Three companies recently announced they have raised $1 billion to build the Eagle Ford, Permian, Ingleside and Corpus (EPIC) pipeline, designed to transport up to 440,000 barrels per day of crude oil and condensate from the Permian Basin Shale field. The pipeline is expected to go on line in the first quarter of 2019.
With output growing in the Permian Basin and refineries in Houston working at capacity, Corpus Christi has become the go-to area for expansion in the industry. The Coastal Bend is also closer to the Permian Basin than Houston. Bidding on the first 200,000 barrels of capacity is already underway, according to one report.
EPIC pipeline developers include Texas-based midstream companies TexStar and Ironwood Midstream Energy Partners as well as Castleton Commodities International, a Connecticut-based commodities trader. Together, they have obtained 10 percent of the right-of-way and permitted and engineered a new waterborne terminal in the Inner Harbor at the Port of Corpus Christi. 
According to officials at the port, the pipeline will more than double the amount of crude oil coming into the Coastal Bend. The Cactus Pipeline from the Permian Basin to Corpus Christi already moves 250,000 barrels of oil a day and will soon expand to 390,000 barrels a day. 
Last year, the Corpus Christi port exported almost $1.5 billion in oil. In 2015, more than 29.7 million tons of crude oil left the port, equaling more than 600,000 barrels a day.