By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, June 8 -- Enbridge Inc. and ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. are studying a crude oil pipeline that would connect refining centers on the US Gulf Coast with production in the oil sands region of Alberta.
The pipeline under study would carry crude from a hub at Patoka, Ill., to Beaumont, Tex., and on to Houston. Straight-line distances total about 715 miles.
At Patoka, the pipeline would link with Enbridge systems that carry crude from Edmonton and Fort McMurray, Alta., to the Chicago area and eastern Canada.
Enbridge said it and ExxonMobil Pipeline have held discussions with potential shippers about the scope, timing, and value of the proposal. It said the project is targeted to be in service as soon as the end of 2010.
Enbridge is expanding its capacity to carry crude from Alberta.
Its Southern Access mainline expansion, under construction, ultimately will add 400,000 b/d of capacity between Hardisty, Alta., and Flanagan, Ill., near Chicago.
Its planned Alberta Clipper project involves construction of a 36-in. diameter pipeline from Hardisty to Superior, Wisc., and the addition of pumping capacity on a new 42-in. pipeline between Superior and Flanagan. It has increased the expected capacity of the project to 450,000 b/d from 400,000 b/d.
In its Southern Access extension, Enbridge would lay a 36-in. pipeline with 400,000 b/d of capacity between Flanagan and Patoka.