US fastest-growing shale play lacks pipelines, low-cost trucking

[NEW YORK] Washington's decision to allow exports of an ultra light crude offers a potential boon to US producers that will bypass drillers in the Permian basin, because the country's fastest-growing shale play lacks pipelines or affordable trucking.

The first exports of condensate have been from the nearby Eagle Ford Shale, a formation served by pipelines and rail, enabling producers to transport condensate to the coast.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co, a leader of the crusade to get Washington to allow the first condensate exports, has examined the economics and decided to ship from Eagle Ford, chief executive officer Scott Sheffield said. "(There are) no plans to export Permian condensate from plants," Mr Sheffield told Reuters in a recent interview. "By the time we truck it, it's not worth the economics of exporting it. We would need pipelines to make it economic."