Permian Basin crude oil flows to Houston extended their recovery in December, rebounding from the sharp June 2024 decline — the lowest volume since September 2023 (see chart below) — according to the latest monthly data from the Texas Railroad Commission. Last summer’s dip was driven by a planned 10-day maintenance event on the Wink-to-Webster (W2W) Pipeline. By December, flows rose to 2.54 MMb/d, up 61 Mb/d from November and just 4 Mb/d below the 2.55 MMb/d average seen in the first five months of 2024.
With pipelines to Corpus Christi operating near full capacity, Houston has increasingly absorbed incremental Permian production. That trajectory briefly stalled in June, when W2W underwent maintenance to reroute a segment of the line.
Four pipelines serve as routes for Permian crude bound for Houston:
- Wink to Webster (W2W): 1.5 MMb/d, of which Midland to ECHO 3 (M2E-3) makes up 450 Mb/d, representing Enterprise’s undivided interest
- Midland to ECHO 1 (M2E-1): 620 Mb/d capacity
- BridgeTex: 440 Mb/d capacity
- Longhorn: 275 Mb/d capacity
In December, flows on W2W — including M2E-3 — dropped by 46 Mb/d, with M2E-1 falling an additional 2 Mb/d. However, ONEOK’s BridgeTex and Longhorn pipelines more than offset those declines, surging a combined 109 Mb/d to reach 94% utilization.
Midland to ECHO 2 (which is currently in NGL service and referred to as Seminole Pipeline) is expected to be converted back to crude service in Q4 2025, adding another 220 Mb/d of capacity (see Open Arms).
