Houston Oiltanking Partners: $200M crude pipeline, storage

HOUSTON – Approximately $200 million of additional crude expansion projects are headed to Houston.

Oiltanking Partners LP intends to construct two new crude oil pipelines connecting its Houston terminal with Crossroads (sometimes referred to as Moore Rd.) Junction, a critical distribution point for the Houston market, for a total cost of approximately $98 million.

The expansion will include a new 24-inch pipeline to Crossroads Junction that will give terminal customers access to the origination point of Shell Pipeline’s Houston-to-Houma pipeline ("HoHo Pipeline"), which is scheduled to transport crude oil from the Houston area eastbound to refining centers in Texas and Louisiana.

"The new pipelines will provide our customers additional inbound and outbound connections to our crude storage hub, thereby driving higher throughput volumes and demand for incremental crude storage at our facilities," said CEO Anne-Marie Ainsworth.

Additionally, a new phase of construction at the Appelt facility will add a total of 3.5 million barrels of new storage over two phases for a total cost of approximately $101 million.

The largest component, Appelt III, will include 3.1 million barrels of storage and a new manifold on 26 acres adjacent to the existing Appelt II facility.

Construction on a new 390,000-barrel storage tank is expected to be completed before Appelt III is in service. Upon completion, the total storage capacity at the Appelt property will be nearly 10 million barrels.