Crude oil shipments out of the busy South Texas port of Corpus Christi hit 394,000 barrels per day (bpd) in November as several new docks came online, data released by the port showed. Corpus Christi's port provides the main coastal outlet for the surging production of light sweet crude oil coming from the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas. The crude is largely destined for refineries along the Gulf Coast or East Coast of the United States. Outbound crude loadings from Corpus Christi reached a previous high of 370,000 bpd in September, according to port records. November saw the completion of several new docks, which allowed more frequent loadings of large coastal barges and tankers, said John LaRue, the executive director of the Port of Corpus Christi. "It's still moving by inland barge but there's even more activity with the larger ocean-going barges and Jones Act vessels," LaRue said, referring to a category of U.S.-flagged, U.S.-built and U.S.-crewed ships that are permitted to move between domestic ports. The recently completed docks are operated by midstream companies Martin Midstream, Plains All American Pipeline LP and Nustar. Production from the Eagle Ford shale formation has averaged over 677,000 bpd from January through November, according to the Railroad Commission of Texas. Nearly 65,000 bpd of Eagle Ford crude left the nearby Texas Port of Victoria in December, headed east on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a manmade inland canal that stretches from the Texas border to Florida. (Reuters)