Enbridge Inc. plans to expand its Gray Oak crude oil pipeline and add 2.5 million bbl of storage at the Enbridge Ingleside Energy Center (EIEC) terminal near Corpus Christi, Tex. The new storage will bring total EIEC capacity to 20 million bbl upon completion in 2025.
As part of the Ingleside expansion Enbridge will buy two marine docks and land adjacent to the site from Flint Hills Resources LLC. This deal is expected to close third-quarter 2024, pending customary approvals and conditions.
The 900,000-b/d Gray Oak pipeline carries Permian basin crude production 850 miles from Reeves County, Tex., to Ingleside. Enbridge intends to expand it by 120,000 b/d depending on the results of an open season.
The company has also entered a joint venture (Oceanus Pipeline Co. LLC) with Shell Pipeline Co. LP to build new offshore pipelines serving the Sparta development in the US Gulf of Mexico. Oceanus will build a 60-mile, 18-in. OD crude pipeline and a 15-mile, 10-in. OD gas pipeline, with both expected to enter service in 2028.
Sparta will span four Outer Continental Shelf blocks in the Garden Banks area and be developed using a semi-submersible platform stationed in more than 4,700 ft of water and eight oil and gas producing wells. It is being developed by Shell Offshore Inc. (51% operator) and Equinor Gulf of Mexico LLC (49%).
The companies expect it to reach peak production of 90,000 boe/d from an estimated discovered recoverable resource volume of 244 million boe. Sparta is scheduled to begin production in 2028.
Shell last month let an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract to TechnipFMC PLC for Sparta. The contract will be Shell’s first EPCI to use high-pressure subsea production systems rated up to 20,000 psi (OGJ Online, Feb. 16, 2024).
