The ratings for LOOP LLC are supported by throughput and deficiency agreements (separate, not joint) with its five owners, all of which are large, investment-grade oil companies. New Orleans, La.-based LOOP owns and operates a deepwater oil port 18 miles off the Louisiana coast that provides offloading for deep-draft oil tankers, which cannot access shallow ports at the shoreline. LOOP also owns 46 million barrels of onshore oil storage in a set of salt dome caverns 25 miles inland, connected by a 48-inch pipeline. Daily throughput capacity is 1.0 million to 1.2 million barrels. Moderate expansion of these facilities is currently being undertaken to accommodate future volume increases expected from tie-ins, through LOOP, of large deepwater developments in the Gulf
