Three energy companies have formed a joint venture with plans to develop a new deep-water marine terminal in Ingleside, Texas, near Corpus Christi, to serve as an outlet for crude oil and condensate delivered by the planned Gray Oak pipeline from the Permian Basin.

Buckeye Partners LP, Phillips 66 Partners LP and Andeavor are behind the project, which will offer 3.4 million barrels of crude oil storage capacity and two deep-water vessel docks capable of berthing very large crude carrier (VLCC) petroleum tankers.

The facility may be expanded to include over 10 million barrels of storage capacity as well as additional docks and other pipeline connections. Construction is supported by commitments from Phillips 66 and Andeavor, and the terminal is scheduled to start initial operations by the end of 2019.

Buckeye will own a 50 percent interest in the joint venture and Phillips 66 Partners and Andeavor will each own a 25 percent interest.

In late April, Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Andeavor announced plans to merge in a deal worth $23.3 billion. Andeavor operates 10 refineries with a combined capacity of approximately 1.2 million barrels per day.

Houston-based Buckeye Partners LP owns and operates transportation, storage, processing and marketing assets for liquid petroleum products. Buckeye is one of the largest independent liquid petroleum products pipeline operators in the United States in terms of volumes delivered, with approximately 6,000 miles of pipeline.