The ratings on petroleum pipeline LOOP LLC reflect its modest business risk profile and intermediate financial risk profile, which are further supported by its separate throughput and deficiency agreements with its five owners, all of which are large, solidly investment-grade oil companies. LOOP owns and operates a deepwater oil port 18 miles off the Louisiana coast that provides offloading for deep-draft oil tankers, which cannot enter shallow inland ports. 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. Operational daily throughput capacity is about 1.2 million barrels, and design capacity is about 1.4 million barrels. It is expanding these facilities to accommodate future volume increases
