A Houston-based operator is proposing to build another oil terminal near Corpus Christi in South Texas to serve a pipeline blitz moving supply from the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale.

Axis Midstream Holdings LLC is proposing to build a terminal on Harbor Island in Port Aransas, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In addition to the terminal in Nueces County, a series of facilities and pipelines is planned in parts of adjacent San Patricio County, with infrastructure from Taft to Harbor Island on the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.

Proposed facilities include two ship berths and a staging facility. Two pipelines would bundle fiber-optic cables, natural gas and oil. Pipelines would run across the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and Redfish Bay.

Several other Corpus area deepwater oil terminals/export projects also are in the works.

The Port of Corpus Christi in March approved a 50-year lease agreement with Lone Star Ports LLC, a joint venture between The Carlyle Group and the Berry Group, to build an oil terminal also on Harbor Island covering 200 acres.

In June, Phillips 66 threw its hat into the ring to develop a deepwater project able to accommodate very large crude carriers, or VLCCs. The Bluewater Texas Terminal LLC would be sited about 21 nautical miles east of the entrance to the Corpus port, “out of sight of land,” said spokesman Dennis Nuss.

Last year Trafigura Group Pte Ltd. also proposed building a deepwater port near Corpus capable of loading supertankers. The firm has applied for a permit through Trafigura US Inc. subsidiary Texas Gulf Terminals Inc.

The Corpus Christi Ship Channel now is being dredged to allow larger tankers to load at the planned terminals.

In addition to the many oil pipelines headed south, the first big Permian-to-Corpus natural gas pipeline, Gulf Coast Express, is set to begin full service in late September, moving about 2 Bcf/d from West Texas to the Agua Dulce hub.