Longhorn Pipeline to Double Capacity
The El Paso Times reports that the Longhorn Pipeline, “which was bought in August by Flying J — an Ogden, Utah, operator of 256 truck stops nationwide and two small refineries — plans to almost double the pipeline’s shipping capacity by mid-2008.”
“The addition of four pumping stations will increase Longhorn’s shipping capacity from 72,000 barrels a day to 125,000 barrels a day.”
The Longhorn Pipeline is a petroleum pipeline that was built in 1950 to carry crude oil 450 miles from Crane, Texas to Houston refineries. The Longhorn Parters Pipeline Co. bought the pipeline from Exxon in 1995 with plans to extend the line 250 additional miles from Crane to El Paso in order to pump refined fuels, including gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel the 700 miles from Houston to El Paso.
After several court battles, changes of line operators, and financial hardships, Flying J purchased the pipeline.
The areas that the pipeline runs through have changed significantly since the pipeline was built in 1950. It runs through densely populated neighborhoods in Houston and Austin, near schools, through parks, as well as through creeks, rivers, and water supplies, including the environmentally sensitive Edwards Aquifer.
Although Longhorn was required, as part of a court settlement, to replace the 1950’s pipe with new pipe over the Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zones, the vast majority that goes through urban areas is the original line.
You can see photos of the pipeline at AustinAction’s Longhorn Pipeline information page, including news footage of the pipe after it exploded in Houston during a test.