Crude oil production from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin continues to grow, but U.S. PADD 2 refiners are already taking nearly as much as they can. Growing production could move into Cushing, OK, and Patoka, IL, but will there be enough pipeline capacity to reach the Gulf Coast?
As crude oil production continues to grow in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, more pipeline capacity will be needed. The 590-Mb/d Trans Mountain Expansion in 2024 temporarily provided a period of surplus capacity, but that is shrinking. Today, we go through all the projects in the works.
A subsidiary of Bridger Pipeline is planning a 36-inch-diameter crude oil pipeline that would move up to 550 Mb/d of Canadian barrels 645 miles from the U.S.-Canada border to Guernsey, WY. The idea is to push crude south via existing rights-of-way, possibly reviving parts of Keystone XL in Alberta.
Buoyed by record crude oil flows and the expectation of further growth in Western Canada, Enbridge has been sanctioning more pipeline expansion projects and discussing plans to add more capacity.
A few months ago, Enbridge unveiled its plans to expand its massive Mainline and smaller Express/Platte crude oil pipeline systems into the U.S. Midwest/Great Plains. We blogged about those plans, and followed up with a look at how the incremental volumes of Western Canadian crude on the Mainline and Express/Platte might move south from PADD 2 to where they’re wanted most: the Gulf Coast. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss efforts to piece together a more direct pipeline route from Alberta to Cushing and on to the Texas/Louisiana coast.
Western Canadian crude oil production is rising fast. To keep pace, Enbridge is planning expansions to its pipelines into the Midwest and Great Plains. But PADD 2 refineries are maxed out on heavy crude, so virtually all those incremental barrels will need to keep flowing south to refineries and export terminals along the Gulf Coast. Can the pipelines from PADD 2 to PADD 3 handle the higher volumes? In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the knock-on effects of rising Western Canadian production and Enbridge’s pipeline expansions.
Tariffs have served as a cornerstone of President Trump’s economic vision. In the campaign, he said he could impose tariffs as high as 25% on all imported goods from Canada — including crude oil — and he could deliver on that promise at any time. This has raised concerns, especially for Canadian producers and U.S. refiners, who depend on the efficient and economical movement of barrels between the trading partners. In today’s RBN blog, we look at how much Canadian crude oil flows to the U.S., how those imports could be affected by tariffs, and how Canadian producers and U.S. refiners would share the financial impact.
We’ve reached the two-year anniversary of the reversal of the joint-venture Capline crude oil pipeline. With its current north-to-south flow, it adds to the few conduits that can move oil from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast, specifically the St. James, LA, oil hub. Flows have been on a steady climb since southbound service began in December 2021, but volumes appear to be short of its available capacity, and there are looming headwinds. In today’s RBN blog, we examine whether Capline’s flows could be affected by the impending startup of the Canadian government-owned Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX). Could rising Alberta production be its golden ticket?
It's been almost a year since the co-owners of the massive Capline crude oil pipeline initiated southbound service between Patoka, IL, and St. James, LA, on what for a half-century had been a northbound conduit. How’s it working out? So far, so good, it seems. As expected, for the first several months the volumes of heavy Canadian crude oil flowing down the 632-mile, 40-inch-diameter pipeline to the St. James hub were modest. Since June, however, Capline has been offering a temporary incentive rate to attract more heavy oil, and starting December 1 it’s also been offering a temporary buck-a-barrel rate for light oil too. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss the latest Capline developments, the challenges associated with batching heavy and light crude on such a big pipe, and the prospects for much higher flows.
It is impossible to overstate the significance of the crude oil hub in Patoka, IL, to refineries in the Midwest. The seven-terminal hub, whose 80-plus above-ground tanks can hold more than 17 million barrels of crude oil, serves as the primary storage, blending, and staging site for a dozen refineries in five states with a combined capacity of more than 2.6 MMb/d. In other words, if the folks that keep Patoka running decide to take a couple of days off, Midwest refining would pretty much grind to a halt. And that’s not all: the southern Illinois hub also plays a critical role in sending crude oil south to the Gulf Coast. Today, we conclude our series on the Patoka hub with a look at the infrastructure within the facility’s boundaries and the pipes that transport oil out of it.
