March 6, 2018 – Financial Times
US oil pipelines pivot south as shale surges
By: Gregory Meyer
The plumbing of the US oil market is pivoting. Old pipelines have been reversed to deliver crude to Gulf of Mexico terminals. New ones also point at the coast.
The changes are cementing the stature of the US in world oil markets, feeding exports of crude from shale fields and fuel made by coastal refineries. More pipelines and expanded ports have enabled American oil producers to reach 10m barrels a day in output, in league with Saudi Arabia and Russia.
It is a far cry from the past, when US midstream assets reflected a much greater dependence on foreign oil. For example, in 1967 the Capline pipeline began shuttling imported and Gulf coast crude northwards from Louisiana to Illinois, where it was dispensed to Midwestern refineries.
Now, its volumes drying up, Capline’s owners have proposed flipping the 1.2m b/d conduit to flow south instead of north, permitting inland crude to reach the coast.
The new BridgeTex, Permian Express and Cactus pipelines now stretch from west Texas oilfields to ports and refineries in coastal Corpus Christi and Houston. Additional pipeline systems able to handle more than 2.1m b/d are planned or under construction, according to RBN Energy, a research company...…
Read the full article here: https://www.ft.com/content/7a5f7236-1d94-11e8-aaca-4574d7dabfb6
