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* Exports to double from current 300,000 bpd by early 2020
* Access to Permian oil, global marketing arm aid exports
* Ability to load supertankers at Corpus Christi(New throughout, adds details and comments)
By Devika Krishna Kumar and Florence Tan
NEW YORK/HOUSTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Occidental PetroleumCorp has emerged as one of the biggest exporters of U.S.shale oil, rivaling large trading firms and oil majors, in amarket now worth more than $150 million every day.
It is showing no signs of slowing down, with plans to doublecrude exports by 2020. In 2017, Occidental was the largestexporter from the U.S. Gulf Coast of crude produced in thePermian oilfield of Texas and New Mexico, the largest U.S. oilfield.
In 2018, it was among the top three exporters of U.S. crude,according to customs data analyzed by Reuters and interviewswith company executives and employees.
U.S. crude exports have emerged as a major profit center foroil companies, as shipments have skyrocketed after Washingtonlifted a decades-long ban of exports in late 2015. They haveexpanded faster than many expected, to a record at about 3.6million bpd last month. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2F0CVck)
The U.S. production boom has upended global supply andoverwhelmed efforts by OPEC to restrict output. U.S. exportshave doubled from the end of 2017, a lucrative opportunity forcompanies with access to supply and export terminals.
Occidental plans to double crude exports to 600,000 barrelsper day by 2020, Cynthia Walker, senior vice president midstreamand marketing, said in an interview.
"As we move into the end of this year and early in 2020 ...we'll probably see a doubling of exports over that period oftime," she said.
Company-level data on exports is kept secret, and the U.S.Census Bureau does not provide data, citing a law which protectsconfidentiality.
Occidental exports about 300,000 bpd of oil, roughly 10percent of U.S. crude exports, a standout among the myriadtrading houses, oil producers and shippers with operations inthe Permian.
According to limited U.S. Customs data available onRefinitiv Eikon, other top shippers included Koch Supply andTrading, BP Plc’s trading arm and TrafiguraAG.
Occidental produces significant volumes of oil in thePermian, and its marketing arm buys barrels from other Permianshale producers. It also has contracts for long-term shipmentson pipelines and access to storage and export terminals.
"We touch anywhere between 20 and 25 percent of every barrelthat's produced in the Permian basin," Walker said.
EXPORT BOOM BRINGS OPPORTUNITY
U.S. oil production has risen by more than 2 million bpd inthe last 12 months, also to an all-time high of over 12 millionbpd, according to U.S. Energy Department data. Given the countryconsumes several million barrels more than that daily, manyanalysts had expected slower growth.
Companies are scrambling to build Gulf Coast ports to handlemore than 3 million bpd in new supplies expected over the nextfive years.
Profits at Occidental's midstream and marketing segment,which includes exports, surged more than 17-fold to $1.9 billionin 2018, excluding items, mostly thanks to moving crude from thePermian to the refining and export hub in the Gulf Coast.
Still, as oil retreated to around $50 a barrel last year,Occidental shares tracked that weakness and ended 2018 down morethan 15 percent.
Occidental's rivals last year ran into bottlenecks trying toget barrels from Permian to the Gulf Coast for export due toscant pipeline access. Regional prices slumped, even as theprice of U.S. oil futures rose to more than $75 a barrelat one point. The bottleneck has since eased as companiesexpanded pipelines.
Occidental's marketing arm has a 10-year service agreementwith BridgeTex pipeline, a key conduit to move crude from thePermian.
The company secured a deal for 200,000 bpd of space in 2012and has helped finance the line's construction. Chief ExecutiveOfficer Vicki Hollub said during an earnings call last year thatOccidental needed to partner with Magellan Midstream to buildthe line, and it has had access ever since.
Last year, Oxy not only sent its own barrels, but boughtthose of others, using its marketing arm. Occidental EnergyMarketing accounted for 17 percent of rival Permian producerPioneer Natural Resources Co's oil and gas revenues in2018, according to regulatory filings. Occidental alsorepresented 34 percent of sales from barrels Pioneer buys fromother companies.
The company also had the advantage of owning and operating aterminal in Ingleside, Corpus Christi, which it bought in 2012.Oxy began testing supertanker export capabilities in 2017. Itlater sold the terminal to Moda Midstream but retained a 10-yearcontract for 450,000 bpd of exports there.
The company has the ability to send about 470,000 bpd out ofthe Permian via pipelines and expects to add more capacity in2019, Hollub said at an industry conference last year.
In December, the port partially loaded its firstsupertanker: Nasiriyah chartered by Occidental for Europe. Thishelped slash costs for ship-to-ship transfers, a costly endeavorthat has limited U.S. exports because most Gulf terminals arenot deep enough to handle the supertankers, known as Very LargeCrude Carrier (VLCC) which can transport 2 million barrels ofoil.
"We don't worry at all about access," Walker said, addingthat the company has a 75-cent per barrel advantage on loadingcosts due to the loading efficiencies at the Ingleside terminal.
To boost its export capability, Moda is expanding itsstorage and considering building a second berth for VLCCs.
"We're trying to get as much to the Gulf and get it out ofthere," a source at Occidental said.
He added: "We have the place that is easily accessible - atIngleside - that really is what they're using to market to theseforeign players in Asia."
(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York and Florence Tanin Houston; Editing by David Gaffen, Lisa Shumaker and DavidGregorio)
