Adds update from ETP.
Pipelines, terminals slowly return on line
US midstream operators are working to bring pipelines and terminals back on line in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which arrived a week ago and plagued most of the Texas coast with winds, flooding and high tides for days.
Magellan Midstream Partners has resumed limited service on a segment of its Houston crude distribution system. The company also restarted an 18-inch refined products pipeline from Texas City into the Houston area.
Magellan plans to bring its 400,000 b/d BridgeTex and 225,000 b/d Longhorn crude pipelines back in service over the weekend once assessments are complete.
Refined products pipeline service has resumed at Magellan's East Houston terminal to deliver gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the Dallas area and west Texas.
The company has started limited storage and distribution services at its Corpus Christi terminal after power was restored and plans to restart its 50,000 b/d condensate splitter by the middle of next week following a review of electronic devices.
Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), which had not commented on its facilities this week, said its Bakken and Bayou Bridge crude systems connecting the midcontinent with the Texas-Louisiana coast are running fully.
ETP's natural gas and natural gas liquids systems also emerged unscathed, the company said, but constrained takeaway capacity has caused it to shut two of four fractionators east of Houston.
The company's Hebert terminal in Beaumont should return to service on 3 September, ETP said.
NuStar Energy's Corpus Christi North Beach terminal is back on line after power was restored.
But other major infrastructure, including TransCanada's 700,000 b/d MarketLink crude pipeline, remain off line, the company said. MarketLink is the southern segment of the Keystone system.
Shell Midstream Partners shut part of its Zydeco crude pipeline on 27 August because of flooding at connecting carrier facilities. That segment of the line will remain down until field operations can assess the facilities and right-of-way, Shell said earlier this week. The portion of Zydeco from Port Neches, Texas, to Houma, Louisiana, was operating.
Crude deliveries from Oklahoma to Texas on the 850,000 b/d Seaway pipeline system are mostly in service but may be on allocation or shut "from time to time" because of disruptions of electrical power to pump stations or restrictions at receipt points, Enterprise Products Partners said.
Refinery outages have shut refined product segments on much of the 660,000 b/d Explorer pipeline into the midcontinent and Texas sections of Colonial Pipeline's 5,500-mile (8,851km) pipeline system that moves gasoline and distillates from the Houston area to the US Atlantic coast and New York Harbor market.
Explorer said it could restart its main product line from the US Gulf coast to Oklahoma as soon as tomorrow as supply disruptions from Hurricane Harvey begin to ease.
The ports of Corpus Christi, Houston, Texas City, Galveston and Freeport have reopened with restrictions.
The Port of Houston is mostly open except for a portion of the upper Houston Ship Channel above Morgan's Point which is still closed to ship and tow traffic, the US Coast Guard said.
Following a record six-day closure, the Port of Corpus Christi said today that it is "fully operational." The port still has some restrictions including a limited 43ft draft.
The first vessel since Hurricane Harvey crossed the Harbor Bridge in the port of Corpus yesterday when the products tanker High Saturn left Citgo's docks.
