St James, Louisiana will be home to a rail facility that EOG Resources and NuStar will use to offload crude from the Eagle Ford Shale and other oil plays. By using rail, EOG will be able to market its crude outside of South Texas Gulf Coast area and will likely get better prices as Eagle Ford production grows. EOG was proactive in getting agreements to ship crude in the Bakken Shale and it looks as if they're on the same track in the Eagle Ford.
The project will facilitate movement and storage of crude oil production from the Bakken, Eagle Ford and other developing shale plays in the United States.
The new project will include the addition of new rail and unit train unloading facilities. Two new storage tanks with a combined 360,000 barrels of capacity will also be built in conjunction with the project. The new facility will be equipped to receive at least one 70,000-barrel train per day and will have enough track and other infrastructure to stage an additional train to await offloading. The rail project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2012, and the tanks are expected to be completed and in service in May 2012.