Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-73
§1507 Common carrier status
Title 33 › Chapter CHAPTER 29— - DEEPWATER PORTS › § 1507
Summary
Deepwater oil ports and the storage directly served by them must take and move any oil brought to the port without unfair treatment and must follow the federal rules that apply to common carriers. A port operator with a license is not breaking that rule if it faces real competition from other ways to move oil and if it sets prices and service terms based on that competition and normal business factors like market value, operating costs, and its investment. If the Secretary thinks a license holder is breaking the rules, the Secretary can start a FERC case, ask the Attorney General to enforce the law, or suspend or cancel the license. The oil rules do not apply to deepwater ports for natural gas. A natural gas port license holder (or its affiliate) may use the port and storage only for gas it owns or controls, and may let others use leftover capacity on reasonable terms so long as it does not interfere with the licensee’s gas operations. For deepwater natural gas ports, this law takes precedence over the Natural Gas Act and its rules for licensing, siting, building, operating, or handling gas.
Full Legal Text
Title 33, §1507
Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)A deepwater port and a storage facility serviced directly by that deepwater port shall operate as a common carrier under applicable provisions of part I of the Interstate Commerce Act and subtitle IV of title 49, and shall accept, transport, or convey without discrimination all oil delivered to the deepwater port with respect to which its license is issued, except as provided by subsection (b) of this section.
(b)A licensee is not discriminating under this section and is not subject to common carrier regulations under subsection (a) of this section when that licensee—
(1)is subject to effective competition for the transportation of oil from alternative transportation systems; and
(2)sets its rates, fees, charges, and conditions of service on the basis of competition, giving consideration to other relevant business factors such as the market value of services provided, licensee’s cost of operation, and the licensee’s investment in the deepwater port and a storage facility, and components thereof, serviced directly by that deepwater port.
(c)When the Secretary has reason to believe that a licensee is not in compliance with this section, the Secretary shall commence an appropriate proceeding before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or request the Attorney General to take appropriate steps to enforce compliance with this section and, when appropriate, to secure the imposition of appropriate sanctions. In addition, the Secretary may suspend or revoke the license of a licensee not complying with its obligations under this section.
(d)Subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to deepwater ports for natural gas. A licensee of a deepwater port for natural gas, or an affiliate thereof, may exclusively utilize the entire capacity of the deepwater port and storage facilities for the acceptance, transport, storage, regasification, or conveyance of natural gas produced, processed, marketed, or otherwise obtained by agreement by such licensee or its affiliates. The licensee may make unused capacity of the deepwater port and storage facilities available to other persons, pursuant to reasonable terms and conditions imposed by the licensee, if such use does not otherwise interfere in any way with the acceptance, transport, storage, regasification, or conveyance of natural gas produced, processed, marketed, or otherwise obtained by agreement by such licensee or its affiliates.
(e)Notwithstanding any provision of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717 et seq.), any regulation or rule issued thereunder, or section 1518 of this title as it pertains to such Act, this chapter shall apply with respect to the licensing, siting, construction, or operation of a deepwater natural gas port or the acceptance, transport, storage, regasification, or conveyance of natural gas at or through a deepwater port, to the exclusion of the Natural Gas Act or any regulation or rule issued thereunder.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The Interstate Commerce Act, referred to in subsec. (a), is act Feb. 4, 1887, ch. 104, 24 Stat. 379, as amended. Part I of the Act, which was classified to chapter 1 (§ 1 et seq.) of former Title 49, Transportation, was repealed by Pub. L. 95-473, § 4(b), Oct. 17, 1978, 92 Stat. 1467, the first section of which enacted subtitle IV (§ 10101 et seq.) of Title 49. For distribution of former sections of Title 49 into the revised Title 49, see Table at the beginning of Title 49. The Natural Gas Act, referred to in subsec. (e), is act June 21, 1938, ch. 556, 52 Stat. 821, which is classified generally to chapter 15B (§ 717 et seq.) of Title 15, Commerce and Trade. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 717w of Title 15 and Tables.
Amendments
2002—Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 107–295 added subsecs. (d) and (e). 1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–324, § 507(a), inserted “and shall accept, transport, or convey without discrimination all oil delivered to the deepwater port with respect to which its license is issued,” after “subtitle IV of title 49,”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104–324, § 507(b), substituted “A licensee is not discriminating under this section and” for “A licensee under this chapter shall accept, transport, or convey without discrimination all oil delivered to the deepwater port with respect to which its license is issued. However, a licensee”. 1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–419 substituted provision that a deepwater port and a storage facility serviced directly by that deepwater port shall operate as a common carrier under applicable provisions of part I of the Interstate Commerce Act and subtitle IV of title 49 except as provided by subsec. (b), for provision that such port and such facilities were subject to
Regulations
as a common carrier in accordance with the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, for purposes of chapter 39 of title 18 and former sections 1 to 27 of title 49. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–419 inserted provisions enumerating conditions under which a licensee is not subject to common carrier
Regulations
under subsec. (a). Provisions dealing with
Enforcement
, suspension, or termination proceedings, were redesignated as subsec. (c). Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98–419 redesignated a portion of provisions of subsec. (b) as subsec. (c), and in subsec. (c) as so redesignated substituted provisions authorizing the Secretary to commence proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or to suspend or revoke licenses of noncomplying licensees, in the event of noncompliance with this section, for provisions which had authorized the Secretary to commence proceedings before the Interstate Commerce Commission or to suspend or terminate licenses of noncomplying licensees as provided in section 1511 of this title, in the event of noncompliance by a licensee with its obligations as a common carrier.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
33 U.S.C. § 1507
Title 33 — Navigation and Navigable Waters
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73