Seaway pipeline begins carrying crude oil away from Cushing

The long-awaiting reversal of the Seaway pipeline is complete.

Owners Enterprise Products Partners LP and Enbridge Inc. announced the line began accepting oil at Cushing on Saturday.

The pipeline, which one helped producers ship record amounts of crude to the Cushing storage hub, now carries oil south to refineries in the Houston area.

Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association President Mike Terry said earlier this month that the pipeline will be a boon to state producers.

“Additional pipeline capacity taking crude oil from Cushing to refineries along the Gulf Coast is necessary to alleviate what has become a bottleneck for crude oil produced in the middle of the country. Increasing amounts of inbound crude from Canada and the northern United States has outpaced outgoing pipeline capacity, forcing more oil into storage at Cushing and glutting the local market. The result is Oklahoma Sweet and West Texas Intermediate, historically the benchmark for global crude oil prices, has become less valuable.”

The Seaway pipeline will be able to move 850,000 barrels of oil a day once a parallel line is built.

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