Enbridge is buying Tallgrass Energy’s crude oil transportation, gathering and storage business for US$2.55 billion in cash. The deal includes a 75% interest in the 1,050-mile Pony Express Pipeline, a roughly 460-Mb/d crude oil system linking Rockies production with the Cushing, OK, storage hub and providing direct access to about 500 Mb/d of refining capacity. Enbridge also gets a 51% interest in the Powder River Gateway system, about 8.4 MMbbl of storage capacity across nine crude terminals, and Stanchion Energy, a crude marketing business. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss what the acquisition means for Enbridge.
To truly understand Cushing — what it does and how it works — you need to know the hub’s assets and how they fit together. RBN’s Cushing Crude Oil Playbook provides the first one-stop, comprehensive guide to the hub’s assets.
First, some background on Tallgrass Energy, a midstream company formed in 2012 and based in Leawood, KS, initially focused on natural-gas transportation. It entered the crude business following its August 2012 purchase of about 432 miles of the existing Pony Express Pipeline (pink line in Figure 1 below) from Kinder Morgan Interstate Gas Transmission. The line had originally been a crude-oil pipeline but was converted to natural-gas service in the mid-1990s. After receiving Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorization in September 2013, Tallgrass abandoned the line’s natural-gas service in December 2013 and converted it back to crude-oil service. It also constructed approximately 260 miles of new pipeline from Lincoln County, KS, south to Cushing, creating the original Guernsey-to-Cushing mainline, which entered commercial service in October 2014.
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About the song
“Pink Pony Club” was written by Chappell Roan and Daniel Nigro and appears as the eleventh song on Chappell Roan’s debut studio album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. The dance-pop ballad celebrates being an individual in a static world. Originally released as a standalone single in April 2020, after Roan performed the song at the 2025 Grammy Awards, where she won Best New Artist, the song eventually charted at #1 on the Billboard Adult Pop, and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles charts. It has been certified 5X Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Personnel on the record were: Chappell Roan (lead, backing vocals), Daniel Nigro (programming), Sam Stewart (guitar), Ryan Linvill (programming), Benjamin Romans (piano), and Kathleen (backing vocals).
The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is the debut album of Chappell Roan. A lot of the songs on the LP were inspired by Roan's experiences in her journey of leaving her hometown in the Midwest to pursue a career as a singer in Los Angeles. It was recorded at various studios in Los Angeles from 2019 to 2023 and produced by Daniel Nigro, Ryan Linvill and Mike Wise. The album was released in September 2025 and went to #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, and has been certified 2X Platinum by the RIAA. Eight singles were released from the LP.
Chappell Roan (Kayleigh Rose Amstutz) is an American singer and songwriter. She has released a studio album, an EP, and 16 singles. She has won an ASCAP Pop Music Award, a BMI Pop Award, two Brit Awards, A Grammy Award, and an MTV Video Music Award. Her latest single was “The Subway,” released in July 2025. Her latest tour was the Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things Tour, which ended in March. She will be appearing next at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in October.
"About the Song" -- written by Mickey McMahan , RBN Director of Musicology
Comments
Hi Lisa,
I read your September 15 blog post "Pink Pony Club – Enbridge Saddles Up for Expanded Crude Service With Pony Express Acquisition" and wanted to flag what looks like a sourcing mix-up.
The post attributes several quotes to Colin Gruending as having been said "in a September 9 call about the deal" — including "this acquisition strengthens Enbridge's position as North America's leading crude oil transporter..." and "opportunities like these do not come along very often."
Those lines actually come from both Enbridge's written September 9 press release, and the call. The actual September 9 pre-recorded webcast (per the Seeking Alpha transcript, "Enbridge Inc. (ENB:CA) Pre Recorded M&A Call Prepared Remarks Transcript") had only three participants: Marlon Samuel (VP, Investor Relations), Greg Ebel (President & CEO), and Pat Murray (EVP & CFO). Greg Ebel made those comments on the call. Gruending wasn't on that call at all, but was the one who they were attributed to in the press release.
Might be worth a clarifying edit to note the quotes are from the press release were from Colin rather than the call, or note the same comments were made by Greg during the call.
Thanks for the thorough writeup otherwise — appreciate the background on Tallgrass's history.
Best,
Dave Nelson
In reply to Hi Lisa,I read your… by Dave Nelson
Dave, thanks for your insight. I’ve updated the post to clarify that Colin Gruending’s comments were from Enbridge’s Sept. 9 news release. I appreciate your post. Thanks for reading and reaching out.