The US Department of Energy is considering retaking operational control of the St. James marine terminal in Louisiana once a 20-year lease with Shell expires at the end of 2017, an agency official said this week. Future control of the terminal, which is located on the Mississippi River and roughly 30 miles southeast of Baton Rouge, is being weighed by DOE officials as they look to spend $2 billion to upgrade and modernize the infrastructure used to distribute government-owned crude oil during potential supply shocks. The fate of the terminal has added significance since St. James is the pricing hub for Light Louisiana Sweet, a benchmark for Gulf of Mexico refiners that has gained prestige since long-standing limits on US crude exports were eliminated late last year. St. James has also become a destination for Bakken crude, and the terminal currently operated by Shell has pipeline distribution connections to […]