By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 24 -- Enbridge Pipelines Inc., Calgary, reported progress on plans to arrange for the shipment of crude oil from western Canada to the US Midcontinent and Gulf Coast.
Enbridge said Canada's National Energy Board will hold hearings in early April on Enbridge's request to recover $10 million/year for 5 years in its Canadian oil pipeline to support an initiative by Mobil Pipe Line Co. to reverse the flow of a 20-in. pipeline from Patoka, Ill., to the Gulf Coast.
The so-called "20" Reversal Pipeline Project would have capacity of 65,000-70,000 b/d of oil to Corsicana with connections to coastal Beaumont and Nederland, Tex. Canadian producers eager to reach alternative markets nominated more than 50,000 b/d of that capacity in an open season the last few months.
Mobil said the idle system could be placed in service by late 2005 at a reversal cost of $22.5 million.
Enbridge Energy LP delivers crude oil to Mustang Pipe Line Partners at Lockport, Ill., southwest of Chicago, for shipment to connecting carriers at Patoka, Ill., about 60 miles east of St. Louis. Patoka is the terminus of Mobil's formerly northbound pipeline.
Enbridge, Mobil, and Mustang ran the open season starting last November, and Mobil has stated its intention to reverse the pipeline based on the response, Enbridge said.
The NEB will consider at the same hearing Enbridge's application to recover similar toll revenues related to placing in service the Spearhead Pipeline from Griffith, Ind., southwest of Gary, to Cushing, Okla. That project, involving reversal of a system idle since 2003, is 85% in place and would start pumping by Jan. 1, 2006.
Spearhead would transport 116,000-186,000 b/d, depending on the share of heavy oil carried.
Canadian crude now fills 10,000 b/d of the 712,000 b/d of refining capacity accessible from Cushing, Enbridge said.