Cushing gut unblocked to Texas leg of Keystone

TEXAS – Crude oil has started flowing through the Gulf Coast Pipeline — the Keystone XL Pipeline’s southern portion, which runs from Cushing, Okla., to refineries in Nederland.

There is only a small amount of crude oil flowing initially, because the transmission line is being tested by federal authorities, according to Shawn Howard, a spokesman for TransCanada, the Canada-based company that built the pipeline.

The line fill will continue through the end of 2013 with about 3 million barrels of oil pumped through the 485-mile, 36-inch pipeline. The Gulf Coast Pipeline, which passes about 80 to 100 miles east of Dallas, will reduce the oil glut that has occurred in Cushing, according to TransCanada officials.