Seaway oil pipeline expansion nearly done

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HOUSTON, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Work necessary for the expansion of the Seaway oil pipeline from Cushing, Okla., is in the final stages, an energy company said.

Enterprise Products Partners, a company with headquarters in Houston, said final infrastructure work is under way to increase the daily volume of oil through the Seaway crude oil pipeline from 150,000 barrels to 400,000 barrels.

"In order to complete the remaining pump station connections, transportation service has been suspended on the 500-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline and is expected to resume operations at full rates by the end of next week," the company said.

Enterprise and Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Inc. in late 2011 agreed to reverse the direction of the Seaway pipeline. The move was intended to reduce transportation costs and accelerate development of crude oil reserves in North America.

Crude oil deliveries through the pipeline began moving in a southern direction for the first time in June in an effort to address a bottleneck at the trading hub in Cushing, Okla.

The project companies said that they've received enough support from shippers to move forward with a twin pipeline. It's expected to double the existing capacity of Seaway to 850,000 barrels of oil per day by mid-2014.