After almost a decade of planning, oil logistics company
Plains All American Pipeline has dropped its plans to build a $500 million oil
tanker terminal at the Port of Los Angeles.
The company, which is headquartered in Houston but has a
branch office in Long Beach, cited economics in an announcement posted on the
company’s website.
“A number of factors contributed to the uncertainties with
respect to financial returns and the determination not to proceed with the
project, including project delays, the economic downturn, regulatory and
permitting matters, a challenging refining environment in California and an
industry shift in the outlook for availability of domestic crude oil,” the announcement reads in part.
The Pacific LA Marine Terminal Pier 400 project, which was
initiated in 2003, called for construction of a new berth at the Port of Los
Angeles’ Pier 400, Berth 408, as well as crude oil storage tanks on Pier 400
and Terminal Island, and associated pipelines to bring crude oil from the
waterfront to the storage tanks.
Crude oil would have be offloaded from tankers into the
storage tanks and pumped to local refineries.
The company says that despite the failure of this project,
it will remain a provider of crude oil, refined products and natural gas
liquids infrastructure in California and that it plans to continue to develop
and build energy infrastructure.
