Genesis Energy LP is holding an open season through Dec. 1 for a crude oil pipeline extension that would serve the Powder River Basin in Wyoming with service as early as the first quarter of next year.

The pipeline would be 135 miles long and capable of receiving crude oil from multiple receipt points in Wyoming’s Campbell and Converse counties. Deliveries would be to the company’s Pronghorn unit train loading facility north of Douglas, WY, and to its new terminal in Guernsey, WY (see Shale Daily, June 25). The latter offers a direct connection to the Pony Express Pipeline, as well as infrastructure that feeds regional refineries.

The Phase 2 extension would also provide shippers direct rail access to a majority of the nation’s crude oil unloading facilities, via two Class 1 railroads: BNSF and Union Pacific.

“The combination of safer, more reliable pipeline transportation with both rail and downstream pipeline connectivity will provide shippers significant optionality to move their barrels directly to the most attractive markets over the long-term,” Genesis said.

The Powder River Basin has been a subject of many earnings calls by exploration and production (E&P) companies for the third quarter.

On Oct. 28, executives with SM Energy Inc. said they would transition one drilling rig out of the Powder River Basin in early 2016 (see Shale Daily, Oct 29). One week later, Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Robert Lawler said its asset in the basin “has progressed dramatically in the past year,” adding that its estimate of recoverable resources there continues to grow (see Shale Daily, Nov. 4). And in a separate statement on the same day, ONEOK Inc. also reported increased production volumes from the basin.

Although EOG Resources Inc. is the largest oil producer and acreage holder in the Eagle Ford Shale, David Trice, executive vice president for E&P, said on Nov. 6 that the Powder River Basin “remains a core position for EOG,” despite reduced capital spending there in 2015 (see Shale Daily, Nov. 9).