Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) has announced the construction of the Cactus Pipeline, a new crude oil pipeline from McCamey to Gardendale, Texas. The Cactus Pipeline will initially be designed to provide approximately 200,000 bbl/d of capacity and can be increased as demand warrants. It is expected to be placed into service in the first quarter of 2015. The Partnership has entered into a letter of intent with a third party regarding a long-term commitment for a majority of the pipeline's capacity and is in discussions with several potential shippers for the remaining capacity. The total project investment is expected to range from US$350m to US$375m.
The pipeline is expected to transport both sweet and sour crude oil from the Permian Basin to the PAA/Enterprise Products Partners Eagle Ford Joint Venture (Eagle Ford JV) Pipeline. The Eagle Ford JV Pipeline directly serves the Three Rivers and Corpus Christi markets and can supply the Houston-area market through a connection to the Enterprise South Texas Crude Oil Pipeline. Crude oil delivered on Cactus will have access to rail loading capacity at PAA's Gardendale station and access to the Eagle Ford JV barge dock facility in the Corpus Christi area.