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The first barge delivery of residual fuel oil is due to be carried out next week at the new Battleground Oil Specialty Terminal (BOSTCO), located on the Houston Ship Channel, Platts reports. Valero Energy is said to be making the delivery.

In an emailed statement, the company said that the terminal was "fully subscribed", with BP, Valero, Glencore, Mercuria, Petrochina, Tauber Oil and Unipec USA listed as having secured storage at the new BOSTCO facility.

A joint venture of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP) - which owns a 55 percent interest in and will operate the facility - and TransMontaigne Partners L.P., the approximately $485 million BOSTCO oil terminal at mile marker 43 on the Houston Ship Channel, is due to operate at approximately 40% of its 7.1 million-barrel capacity, but is scheduled to be fully operational in about six months, according to John Schlosser, president of Kinder Morgan Terminals.

In June, it was announced that there would be a 900,000-barrel expansion at the 185-acre BOSTCO facility. The approximately $54 million project is supported by a long-term leased storage and handling services contract with Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. and includes six, 150,000-barrel, ultra low sulphur diesel tanks, additional pipeline and deepwater vessel dock access, and high-speed loading at a rate of 30,000 barrels per hour.

With the completion of this expansion the terminal will include the construction of 57 storage tanks to handle ultra low sulphur diesel, residual fuels and other black oil terminal services.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP) is a leading pipeline transportation and energy storage company and one of the largest publicly traded pipeline limited partnerships in America. It owns an interest in or operates approximately 51,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. The general partner of KMP is owned by Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI).

Kinder Morgan is the largest midstream and the third largest energy company in North America with a combined enterprise value of approximately $115 billion. It owns an interest in or operates approximately 80,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. Its pipelines transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil, CO2 and other products, and its terminals store petroleum products and chemicals and handle such products as ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. KMI owns the general partner interests of KMP and El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (EPB), along with limited partner interests in KMP, and EPB and shares in Kinder Morgan Management, LLC (KMR).