The great Texas philosopher Matthew McConaughey once said, “I don’t want to just revolve. I want to evolve.” Few pieces of crude oil infrastructure embody that spirit of adaptation quite like ONEOK’s Longhorn Pipeline. Starting out as a Houston-bound conduit for Permian crude, Longhorn later reversed its flow and started moving refined products, then — at just the right time, in the early days of the Permian’s Shale Era rebirth — flipped back to eastbound crude service. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll detail the pipeline’s evolution and its critical role in moving Permian oil to the Gulf Coast market.
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Stretching from West Texas to Houston, the Longhorn Pipeline began operation in the 1950s moving decidedly Pre-Shale Permian crude oil east to refineries in and around the Houston area. In 1995, the pipeline was acquired by Longhorn Partners Pipeline LP, which planned to — and eventually did — convert the pipeline to westbound refined-products service and extend the line westward from Crane to El Paso, thereby facilitating the flow of gasoline and diesel to the western tip of the Lone Star State. In 2009, Magellan Midstream Partners acquired the pipeline after Longhorn Partners Pipeline filed for bankruptcy. Magellan had an idea — stick with us, this will take a couple of quick paragraphs to explain.
Most of the Permian crude being produced then was either consumed by the four local refineries (refinery icons in Figure 1 below) or piped to Cushing, OK, or Nederland, TX. Pipes from the Permian to Cushing included Centurion Pipeline (250 Mb/d; green line; acquired by Energy Transfer in 2023) and Plains All American’s Basin Pipeline (400 Mb/d at the time; blue line), which runs to Wichita Falls, TX, and then to Cushing. Energy Transfer’s West Texas Gulf Pipeline (WTG; pink line) was the only long-haul pipeline from the Permian to the Gulf Coast (destined for Nederland where previous operator Sunoco Logistics Partners had a terminal — the company and the terminal were later acquired by Energy Transfer). It also delivers barrels to Longview in East Texas.
Figure 1. Permian Crude Infrastructure Before 2010. Source: RBN
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About the song
“Do the Evolution” was written by Eddie Vedder (lyrics) and Stone Gossard (music). It appears as the seventh song on Pearl Jam’s fifth studio album, Yield. Although it was never released as a commercially available single, it reached #33 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Singles chart. An animated video directed by Kevin Altieri and Joe Pearson accompanied the song’s release. Personnel on the record were: Eddie Vedder (lead vocals), Stone Gossard (guitars, bass), Mike McCready (lead guitar), Jack Irons (drums), and Brendan O'Brien, Alana Baxter, Mary Olsen, Mark Rever (backing vocals).
Yield was recorded between February and September 1997 at Studio Litho and Studio X in Seattle, and Doppler and Southern Tracks in Atlanta. Produced by Brendan O’Brien and Pearl Jam, the album was released in February 1998. It went to #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Two singles were released from the LP.
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1990. Founding members — guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, bassist Jeff Ament and vocalist Eddie Vedder — were joined by drummer Matt Cameron in 1998. They have released 12 studio albums, 23 live albums, three compilation albums, an EP, and 46 singles. They have sold more than 85 million records worldwide. They have won five American Music Awards, two Grammy Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. They continue to record and tour and are currently on their Pearl Jam 2024 Tour.
