ecember 31, 2013 4:27 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The operator of a $2.3 billion pipeline between Cushing and the Gulf Coast expects to begin shipping oil Jan. 22.
TransCanada began injecting crude oil into the 485-mile, 36-inch pipeline in early December. Spokesman Davis Sheremata said the process involves injecting about 3 million barrels of oil into the system at Cushing and moving it to the Houston area.
"Once line-fill is complete, TransCanada's team will move into the final phase of commissioning for our meters, pump stations and other related facilities," Sheremata said in an email to The Associated Press.
Regulatory filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have set Jan. 3 as the date for rates, rules and regulations to become effective to commence transportation services to the Gulf Coast, Sheremata said Tuesday.
"We are required to provide at least 30 days' notice to FERC regarding the effective date for our tariffs and tolls," he said. "The Gulf Coast pipeline will have the initial capacity to transport up to 700,000 barrels of oil per day with the potential to transport up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day to Gulf Coast refineries."
The pipeline is the southern leg of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada's oil sands and the Bakken Shale in North Dakota to refineries in the Houston area.
lower keystone pipeline
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prince_jake_33
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Re: lower keystone pipeline
Jan 22 (Reuters) - TransCanada Corp said on Wednesday it is shipping crude oil on the 700,000-barrel-per-day Gulf Coast pipeline, a $5.3 billion project expected to help eliminate a bottleneck that has warped the U.S. oil market for three years.
The new line will take Canadian crude from TransCanada's existing Keystone line and U.S. crude oil from the bloated Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub to the cluster of refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
The Gulf Coast line is the southern leg of TransCanada's controversial Keystone XL project, which, more than five years after the initial filing, is still awaiting a final decision from the Obama Administration.
The start-up of the Gulf Coast project will give Canada's oil sands producers their first large-scale access to the refining hub on Texas' Gulf Coast. It could also help alleviate steep discounts on Canadian crude, which dropped to more than $40 per barrel below the West Texas Intermediate benchmark in November.
The new line is also expected to help lower inventories at Cushing, the pricing point for the New York Mercantile Exchange's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract, North America's benchmark oil price. A surplus of crude at the storage hub has depressed U.S. oil prices, with WTI trading well below crudes priced on the European Brent benchmark.
The pipeline will likely ship just over 300,000 bpd of oil this month, traders said last week.
TransCanada shares were up 13 Canadian cents to C$48.60 by midmorning on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The new line will take Canadian crude from TransCanada's existing Keystone line and U.S. crude oil from the bloated Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub to the cluster of refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
The Gulf Coast line is the southern leg of TransCanada's controversial Keystone XL project, which, more than five years after the initial filing, is still awaiting a final decision from the Obama Administration.
The start-up of the Gulf Coast project will give Canada's oil sands producers their first large-scale access to the refining hub on Texas' Gulf Coast. It could also help alleviate steep discounts on Canadian crude, which dropped to more than $40 per barrel below the West Texas Intermediate benchmark in November.
The new line is also expected to help lower inventories at Cushing, the pricing point for the New York Mercantile Exchange's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contract, North America's benchmark oil price. A surplus of crude at the storage hub has depressed U.S. oil prices, with WTI trading well below crudes priced on the European Brent benchmark.
The pipeline will likely ship just over 300,000 bpd of oil this month, traders said last week.
TransCanada shares were up 13 Canadian cents to C$48.60 by midmorning on the Toronto Stock Exchange.