Christopher E. Smith
OGJ Pipeline Editor
HOUSTON, Oct. 19 -- Koch Pipeline Co. LP and NuStar Logistics agreed on a pipeline connection and capacity lease agreement giving Koch Pipeline additional capacity to transport Eagle Ford shale crude oil to Corpus Christi, Tex. The project involves reactivation of NuStar’s idle Pettus South Pipeline, which runs 60 miles from Pettus, Tex., to Corpus Christi.
NuStar will operate the pipeline, with Koch Pipeline leasing the capacity and combining it with its existing gathering systems to move crude from Eagle Ford shale fields to Corpus Christi refineries and terminals. Koch and NuStar expect the project to be completed and in service in second-quarter 2011, adding at least 30,000 b/d of new capacity to Koch’s system, with expansion to about 50,000 b/d possible.
Koch is seeking additional opportunities in increase pipeline capacity to Corpus Christi refineries and Flint Hills Resources Ingleside waterborne terminal. In May, the company completed projects increasing its crude oil and gas condensates transportation capacity in South Texas by about 25,000 b/d.
Koch Pipeline is also building a line to expand delivery capability to Ingleside and is increasing transportation capacity by 40,000 b/d from its existing system in the northern Eagle Ford counties. This increase will be final during first-half 2011.
Last month, in conjunction with Arrowhead Pipeline LP, Koch announced an agreement and joint tariff to add 50,000 b/d of crude and condensate capacity during 2011 from the western counties of Eagle Ford.
Enterprise Products Partners LP announced in September plans to build a 140-mile, 350,000 b/d pipeline to move Eagle Ford crude to both Houston-area refineries and the Cushing, Okla., storage hub (OGJ Online, Sept. 1, 2010).
Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].