HollyFrontier Corp. and Holly Energy Partners LP are collaborating to construct a rail facility that will enable crude oil loading and unloading near HollyFrontier’s Artesia and/or Lovington, NM, refining facilities. The rail project, which will be connected to Holly Energy’s crude oil pipeline system in southeastern New Mexico, will have an initial capacity of up to 70,000 b/d and will enable access to a variety of crude oil types including West Texas Intermediate, West Texas Sour and Western Canadian Select. The project will provide additional crude oil takeaway options for producers as crude production in the region continues to grow, and an expanded set of crude oil sourcing options for HollyFrontier. Completion is expected by early 2014.
Houma
Articles from Houma
Industry Brief
Work on Shell Pipeline’s Eagle Ford Shale- and Permian Basin-focused Houma, LA, to Houston (Ho-Ho) oil pipeline system reversal is going according to plan, based on shipper requests and new crude production and infrastructure coming online, the company said. Through a Declaratory Order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved the contract rates and capacity allocation for the Ho-Ho Reversal project. The initial phase will move crude oil from connecting pipelines and terminals in East Houston to Nederland, TX, and Port Arthur, TX, thereby supplying the refining complex across the region with crude from the Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin, as well as crude supplies from the Cushing, OK, area. Phase I of the project is designed to complement new pipeline infrastructure that is currently being built to the Houston area. The Royal Dutch Shell plc subsidiary last August said it was considering reversing flows on the 22-inch diameter Ho-Ho system to enable more than 300,000 b/d of crude to be distributed across the Gulf Coast region (see Shale Daily, Aug. 9, 2011).
Shell Encouraged by Interest in Ho-Ho Crude Pipe Reversal
Shell Pipeline Co. LP received a “very encouraging response” in a nonbinding open season for capacity on its proposed Houma, LA, to Houston (Ho-Ho) oil pipeline system reversal, which would take advantage of growing oil shale production, the company said Thursday.
Industry Briefs
Authorities were searching for clues to determine what caused a helicopter to crash Sunday afternoon near Houma, LA, killing eight men being transported to an oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The Lafayette, LA-based PHI Inc. helicopter was taking the men to Shell Oil Co.’s Cougar platform from Amelia, LA, said Shell spokesperson Robin Lebovitz. Amelia is 80 miles southwest of New Orleans. A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said the Sikorsky S-76C helicopter is thought to have crashed about seven minutes after it took off. A PHI pilot and a copilot died in the crash along with employees of The Moreno Group’s Dynamic Industries and MMR Offshore Services Inc. Dynamic Industries and MMR perform contract work for Shell. A single survivor was being treated for severe injuries at the Ocshner Foundation Hospital in Jefferson, LA.