Last week, line fill on the Pony Express Pipeline began, even though officials say that commercial shipments will officially began in the fourth quarter of 2014. The 230,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) pipeline is carrying crude from Wyoming to Oklahoma.
Line fill on the pipeline is expected to take approximately 25-40 days to fill with a total of two million barrels at a rate of 50,000-80,000 bpd. Pony Express, which is operated by Tallgrass Energy Partners LP, includes a 430-mile converted natural gas pipeline and a new 260-mile line that will carry light crude in North Dakota’s Bakken shale plays from Guernsey, Wyoming into Cushing, Oklahoma. The new extension moves oil from Lincoln County, Kansas to Payne County, Oklahoma.
Traders say that once the pipeline starts up, it will mean an increase of stock in Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the West Texas Intermediate contract. Cushing stock fell below 20 million barrels earlier this month, the first time in six years, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed.