UP to provide crude-by-rail service for Vista terminal in Texas

Vista Proppants and Logistics LLC has entered into a definitive agreement with JupiterMLP LLC for transloading crude oil from truck to rail at its facility in Pecos, Texas.

Vista and Jupiter plan to ship crude oil via Union Pacific Railroad through 2019 and potentially into 2020, depending on pipeline construction timelines and capacity availability, the companies announced earlier this week in a press release.

Crude oil will be extracted from the Permian Basin. Commercial operations at Pecos began Aug. 15.

"The strategic location and capabilities of our Pecos facility make it a natural fit for crude-by-rail operations, and we look forward to assisting our customers with their transport needs as takeaway infrastructure for the Permian is further built out over the next couple of years," said Vista Chief Executive Officer Gary Humphreys.

For Jupiter, the arrangement with Vista enables the company to accelerate its plan to move "significant volumes" of Permian Basin crude oil to the Gulf Coast while it constructs its pipeline and very large crude carrier (VLCC) loading terminal in Brownsville, Texas, said Jupiter Chief Executive Officer Tom Ramsey.

Vista anticipates shipping 400,000 barrels per month from Pecos to St. James, Louisiana. The amount shipped could increase, depending on the number of train slots available each month, Vista officials said.

The Pecos terminal also provides rail-to-truck frac sand transloading services.