HOUSTON, May 3 (UPI) -- Expansion plans for an oil pipeline that feeds a Texas refinery will increase the pipeline's capacity more than 200 percent, Kinder Morgan announced.
Kinder said it was working to upgrade a 27-mile oil pipeline in Texas that feeds the Sweeny refinery, operated by Phillips 66. The expansion will increase the capacity of the pipeline from 30,000 barrels per day to 100,000 bpd.
Kinder Pipelines President Ron McClain said his company would also add new pumps and install a 120,000-barrel storage tank to help facilitate the expansion. He said the project demonstrates how important it is to move oil from the state's Eagle Ford shale oil field to southern refineries like Phillips 66's.
Production from Eagle Ford helped push crude oil production in Texas to a February average of 1.56 million bpd, up from 1.13 million bpd reported last February, the Texas Railroad Commission said.
Kinder said the pipeline expansion project should be completed by the end of the year.
