Seaway Pipeline Co. in mid-May resumed the flow of crude oil that had been stuck in its 20 in. line running from Texas City, Tex., to Cushing, Okla.
The line had been idle since Apr. 30 when waxy, high pour point oil stopped flowing in a portion of the system between Galena Park and Teague, Tex. (OGJ, May 13, p. 34). Karen Caldwell, president of ARCO Seaway Inc., said oil has been flowing to Teague at near-normal to normal rates since May 14-2 weeks after operation of the line was interrupted.
Seaway is a partnership between subsidiaries of ARCO and Phillips Petroleum Co. ARCO Pipe Line Co. operates the system.
"Oil began flowing again after our engineers treated it in the pipeline at strategic locations in combination with increasing pumping pressure throughout the line," Caldwell said.
The waxy oil is being removed from the line at Teague and placed in storage tanks. Caldwell said the company will evaluate the oil before making a decision about its further handling.
A new shipment of oil has been loaded into the 20 in. line on the Gulf Coast and is expected to reach Cushing within 20 days. This line has a design capacity of 160,000 b/d.
Meantime, the first shipments of crude oil in the company's recommissioned 30 in. line, which became operational May 1, were scheduled to arrive at Cushing by early last week. This line, which runs from Freeport, Tex., to Cushing, has a design capacity of 270,000 b/d.
Seaway began drawing oil from the U.S. Department of Energy's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) May 16 to help in the start-up of the 30 in. system. Seaway reached agreement with DOE early this month to lease as much as 1 million bbl from the Bryan Mound SPR site near Freeport.
Seaway will use the leased SPR crude to fill gaps between commercial shipments.
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