Long-Haul Pipelines Scarce, O&G Midstream Focuses on Storage

SUGAR LAND--June 9, 2016--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Midstream companies are understandably skittish about announcing big projects, despite crude oil's recent uptick in commodity price. As such, what long-haul pipelines were already permitted when crude prices fell started getting built, and others in earlier stages have been pushed back. Between now and spring 2017, only the 200,000 BBL/d Diamond pipeline by Plains All American LP (NYSE PAA) (Houston) is slated to kick off, according to IIR data on inter-regional pipelines. By contrast, however, new crude oil storage projects are plentiful, with projects representing over 21 million barrels (MMBBL) of storage across 18 distinct projects mainly in Texas and Louisiana kicking off in the same time period. In total, IIR is looking at $7.1 billion of investment in crude, condensate and bitumen Terminal capital projects in the U.S. and Canada, $1.4 billion of which is under construction already and $672 million with approvals in hand getting ready to start work. These represent opportunities for contractors to pursue in the short term while waiting for the market to right itself. Within this article: Mentions the amount in MMBL of new storage capacity that Industrial Info is tracking.