Kinder Morgan Energy Partners launched a binding open season to solicit commitments for the proposed Palmetto Project, which offers shippers a new refined products service to move gasoline, diesel and ethanol from Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina to points in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
The $1 billion project has a design capacity of 167,000 bpd and would consist of a segment of expansion capacity that Palmetto would lease from Plantation Pipe Line Company between Baton Rouge, LA and Belton, SC. A 360-mile pipeline from Belton, SC to Jacksonville, FL would also be constructed.
“The Palmetto Project would provide access to new markets in the Southeast for pipeline shippers looking to move refined petroleum products from the Gulf Coast,†said Ron McClain, president of Products Pipelines for KMP. “Pending customer commitments from the open season and timely regulatory approvals, the project could be in service by July 2017.â€
The company also announced an investment of $54 million to build an interconnect and other facilities for its Kinder Morgan Crude and Condensate (KMCC) pipeline after entering into a long-term transportation agreement with Republic Midstream Marketing, LLC.
Republic will construct a gathering pipeline from Lavaca County, TX to the new interconnection at KMP’s DeWitt Station, near Cuero, TX. In addition to the interconnection, KMP will build two storage tanks (each with 120,000 bbls of capacity), truck offloading racks and related facilities. The project is expected to come online in June 2015.