Houston oil reserves hit 60 percent capacity

​​HOUSTON – With available storage facilities for oil filling up in Houston, Fairway Energy Partners said the time is right for the 11 million barrels of crude storage space it’s currently developing.

Fairway Energy Partners plans to convert three salt dome caverns more than 2,000 feet under Southwest Houston into crude oil storage. The company, backed by Haddington Ventures, is targeting a completion date of late 2016.

The latest figures from Genscape Inc. indicate that the Houston has about 63 million barrels of oil stored at terminals and refineries, totaling about 60 percent of capacity.

Much of that space is contracted to long-term customers, those looking for a short-term spot to stash their crude could see space as harder to come by.

The Texas Gulf Coast has about 128 million barrels stored at refineries and terminals. It’s also about 60 percent full.

Spot storage market prices are tough to track.

Prices aren’t as liquid as other oil and gas benchmarks, and going rates can vary depending on the grades of oil and access needed. 

One of the benchmarks for spot storage prices is the CME Group’s futures contract for space at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port.

That has risen from about 20 cents for the right to store a barrel for a month to more than 95 cents on Friday.