NuStar Pipeline Expansion to Increase Fuel Supply to Northern Midwest States
NuStar Energy L.P. (NYSE:NS) announced today that the company’s board of directors has approved construction of an additional 12.5-mile segment of the East Pipeline System from El Dorado, Kansas, to Potwin, Kansas, which is great news for consumers in the region. The $16.1 million project will increase the capacity and operational flexibility of NuStar’s pipeline system in the region, improving the flow of refined products from U.S. Gulf Coast and Mid-Continent supply connections to customers in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and the Dakotas. NuStar has fast-tracked the construction project and it is expected to be completed in May 2009.
“At NuStar, we want to do everything possible to ensure the markets in which we operate are supplied to meet demand,” said Curt Anastasio, NuStar’s president and CEO. “After some states in that region experienced supply issues last year, especially the Dakotas, we took a hard look at our operations to determine how we could help increase delivery efficiencies. And, we decided to make the significant investment necessary to construct this new section of pipeline as it should help us significantly increase fuel supply in the region.”
NuStar currently owns and operates two pipelines that stretch over 58 miles from El Dorado to McPherson, Kansas, including an eight-inch pipeline and a 10-inch pipeline. This line is a critical link in the 2,090-mile system that provides refined products to the states north of Kansas. The new pipeline will fill a 12.5-mile gap on the 10-inch line from El Dorado to Potwin, thereby eliminating bottlenecking and supply shortages that occurred on the eight-inch line during peak-demand periods. Overall, NuStar estimates that capacity on the pipeline segment between El Dorado and McPherson will increase by 50 percent once the project is complete. The project will also enhance NuStar’s operational flexibility to keep refined products flowing when regional supply is reduced due to planned and unplanned refinery maintenance.
The new pipeline project is in addition to nearly $15 million in improvements NuStar has made to the East Pipeline System in the last five years. These improvements include pipeline segment capacity increases, pipeline and terminal automation, terminal bottom loading conversions, storage increases, and information systems.
NuStar Energy L.P.
NuStar Energy L.P. is a publicly traded, limited partnership based in San Antonio, with 9,063 miles of pipeline, 85 terminal facilities, four crude oil storage tank facilities and two asphalt refineries with a combined throughput capacity of 104,000 barrels per day. One of the largest asphalt refiners and marketers in the U.S. and the second largest independent liquids terminal operator in the nation, NuStar has operations in the United States, the Netherlands Antilles, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The partnership’s combined system has over 88 million barrels of storage capacity, and includes two asphalt refineries, crude oil and refined product pipelines, refined product terminals, a petroleum and specialty liquids storage and terminaling business, as well as crude oil storage facilities. For more information, visit NuStar Energy L.P.’s Web site at www.nustarenergy.com.