Enterprise to expand Midland to ECHO crude oil pipeline system in Texas

Enterprise Products Partners, through M2E4 (Enterprise), its fully-owned affiliate, has secured long-term agreements to back an additional expansion of the Midland to ECHO crude oil pipeline system in Texas.

As part of the pipeline expansion project, Enterprise will lay a pipeline that will connect its Midland, Texas storage facility to its ECHO Terminal via its Eagle Ford system in South Texas. The pipeline will have an initial transportation capacity of 450,000 barrels per day (BPD) and will have the potential to be expanded up to 540,000 BPD.

The company’s Houston crude oil distribution system has over 45 million barrels of storage, nearly 4 million BPD of export capacity from the partnership’s network of marine terminals. The distribution system connects to all the refineries across the Houston, Texas City and Beaumont/Port Arthur area, representing around 4.5 million BPD of capacity.

The pipeline is likely to commence service in the first half of 2021.

Enterprise Products Partners announces expansion of Midland to ECHO crude oil pipeline system in Texas. Image courtesy of anankkml at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Apart from supporting the growth of crude oil production in the Permian Basin, the new pipeline will enable Enterprise to streamline its entire Midland to ECHO pipeline system, which will be made up of four pipelines, by transporting barrels in the most cost-efficient manner.

Enterprise is hoping to generate up to $60 million of annualized cost savings, mainly from a substantial reduction in the use of expensive drag-reducing agents and managing pump operations.

The pipeline expansion project will also help the partnership to maximize the operational flexibility of the Seminole Red pipeline in crude oil or natural gas liquid (NGL) service depending on the requirements of the respective markets.

A.J.Teague – CEO of Enterprise’s general partner said: “Our system allows us to provide producers in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford shale with segregated storage, transportation, distribution and marine terminal services. This integrated model supports customers’ needs for flow assurance and market choices, whether the markets are domestic or international.

“It also enhances the value of production destined for international markets by assuring product segregation, quality and consistency based on the customer’s production.”