ETP Plans Permian Express 3, Dakota Access Oil Pipeline Expansions

OILMONSTER.COM- Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP.N) on Thursday said it expects to expand its Permian Express oil pipeline system by up to 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) and may boost capacity on its Dakota Access crude pipeline.

During the second quarter, ETP completed an open season for about 50,000 additional bpd on Permian Express 3, which represents the final phase of the 140,000 bpd project.

The final 50,000 bpd is expected to be online later this year, an executive said on an earnings call for the quarter.

Flows on the Dakota Access pipeline, that runs from North Dakota to Illinois, have averaged just over 500,000 bpd recently and the company said it could expand by another 100,000 bpd.

ETP said it is also making progress on a new 30-inch crude oil pipeline joint venture project from the Permian Basin to the Gulf Coast that would add at least 1 million bpd of capacity.

That line is likely to come online by 2020, ETP said in May.

The company said it would also look at expanding capacity on other existing lines.

“Everywhere we possibly can use DRA (drag reducing agents) across the country, we are,” said Marshall McCrea, a senior ETP executive.

Production in the Permian Basin, the biggest oil patch in the United States, has surged beyond the takeaway capacity of pipelines, depressing oil prices in the region.

 Courtesy: www.reuters.com