Once the November elections are behind us, it is almost certain that U.S. oil companies will turn up the heat on Congress to permit the export of U.S. crude. Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE: EPD) is taking a step to prepare for that eventuality by announcing on Wednesday a two-step merger process that would add Oiltanking Partners L.P. (NYSE: OILT) to its empire.

Oiltanking Partners owns 12 ship and barge docks on the Houston Ship Channel and the Port of Beaumont, Texas, with about 24 million barrels of storage for both crude oil and refined products. Enterprise said in the announcement that it has done business with Oiltanking Partners for 31 years and has loaded or unloaded more than 3,500 ships with more than 600 million gallons of liquefied petroleum gas during those years. Enterprise estimates that it was responsible for about 40% of Oiltanking Partners’ 2013 EBITDA.

In the already-completed first step of the transaction, Enterprise paid $2.21 billion in cash and 54.8 million common units for Oiltanking Partners 15.9 million common units, 38.9 million subordinated units and Oiltanking Partners’ general partner and related incentive distribution rights. The acquirer also paid $228 million to purchase outstanding notes receivable and interest payments on those notes from Oiltanking Partners and its subsidiaries.

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After payment of the third fiscal quarter’s distributions, the subordinated units will convert to common units on a one-for-one basis and Enterprise will own about 66% of Oiltanking Partners’ common units and the already acquired general partner.

In the second step of the transaction, Enterprise has proposed to exchange 1.23 of its own common units for each outstanding common unit of Oiltanking Partners, which Enterprise says would amount to $1.4 billion and a total deal value of about $6 billion.

Having 24 million barrels of storage capacity and pipeline connections to Enterprise’s products plant in Mont Belvieu and its existing Enterprise Crude Houston (ECHO) facility with 800,000 barrels of crude oil capacity, Enterprise plans to bring the total at ECHO to 6 million barrels and another 8 million barrels per day of refining and water capacity.

As pressure mounts to permit exports of crude oil, the addition of more storage capacity is a bet that once the elections are over, exports will once again be permitted. After all, with the next congressional elections two years away, voters are likely to forget who might have been responsible for gasoline pump price increases that came about due to crude oil exports.

Oiltanking Partners common units traded up about 3.5% at $51.33 in late morning trading, in a 52-week range of $26.20 to $54.95.

Enterprises’ units traded up about 1.5% at $40.93, in a 52-week range $14.78 to $41.38.

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