Capline light crude service delayed

Light crude service on a planned reversal of the 1.2mn b/d Capline pipeline from Patoka, Illinois, to St James, Louisiana, will be delayed because of the timing of a connecting project.

The reversed line will start moving light crude in the first half of 2021, a delay from a previous estimated startup of the third quarter of 2020, Plains All American Pipeline said today while reporting third quarter earnings. Heavy crude service is still estimated to start in the first half of 2022. Plains owns Capline with BP and Marathon.

The delay for the startup of light crude service is needed to accommodate full connectivity to a planned expansion of the 200,000 b/d Diamond crude pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Memphis, Tennessee, Plains said.

Plains is planning to double the capacity of Diamond and add a 30-mile extension to connect to Capline. The extension is part of a plan for a joint tariff on Diamond and Capline, offering service from Cushing to St James. Diamond is co-owned with refiner Valero.

Operators of Capline this month started purging

the line in the latest step toward the reversal to move crude south from Patoka to St James, Marathon said last week.