Seaway oil pipeline reversal set for May

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WASHINGTON, April 17 (UPI) -- The reversal of the Seaway oil pipeline in the United States is planned for the middle of May, a month earlier than expected, corporate filings indicate.

Enterprise Products Partners and Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Inc. in November agreed to reverse the direction of crude oil on the Seaway pipeline so it can carry oil from the trading hub in Cushing, Okla., to refineries along the southern coast of the United States.

Both parties, in filings with U.S. regulators, said they planned to start crude oil shipments through a reversed Seaway by mid-May, a month earlier than scheduled.

The companies said an expansion project of the Seaway pipeline would more than double its capacity to 850,000 barrels per day by mid-2014.

Reversing crude oil deliveries on the 512-mile pipeline could reduce transportation costs and accelerate development of crude oil reserves in North America.

It would cost at least $2 to ship 100,000 barrels of light crude oil per day through the pipeline under a 10-year commitment. A five-year commitment for heavy oil would cost at least $3.25 for less than 100,000 bpd, Bloomberg News reports.