por admin » Mié Nov 16, 2011 8:58 am
El petroleo sube por el acuerdo de la Canadiense Enbridge de comprar el 50% de la linea de petroleo que se mueve entre la Gulf Coast y Okhahoma. Esto podria aliviar el cuello de botella del petroleo en el Midwest.
Enbridge pagara $1.15 billones por el 50% de la participacion de ConocoPhillips en Seaway Crude Pipeline System, convirtiendose en socio de la linea de petroleo de Enterprese Products Partners LP, quien es el operador.
BUSINESSNOVEMBER 16, 2011, 11:02 A.M. ET.Oil Jumps on Pipeline Deal
By CHIP CUMMINS
TORONTO—Canada's Enbridge Inc. said it agreed to buy a 50% stake in a pipeline currently moving oil from the Gulf Coast to Oklahoma, and then reverse the flow—a move that could ease a bottleneck of crude in the Midwest.
Enbridge said it would pay $1.15 billion for ConocoPhillip's 50% stake in the Seaway Crude Pipeline System, becoming joint owner of the line with Enterprise Products Partners LP, the line's operator.
The two said Wednesday they had agreed to reverse the flow of a 500-mile portion of the line, to bring crude from Cushing, Okla., an oil storage hub, to the Houston-area refining market. Pending regulatory approval of the reversal, the line could ship an initial 150,000 barrels of crude per day by the second quarter of next year, the two companies said.
.The move could ease a growing glut of crude in the Midwest, which has depressed prices in particular for Canadian oil-sands producers. Worry that the bottleneck would persist has increased after the U.S. State Department delayed approval of another pipeline—TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL—until early 2013.
Keystone XL would be an expansion and extension of TransCanada's Keystone line, which currently carries crude from Canada to Cushing and Midwest refineries. Keystone XL was intended to boost volumes and extend the system to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
U.S. crude oil futures prices surged over $101 a barrel for the first time since July early Wednesday following news of the Enbridge-Conoco pipeline deal.
Traders said the flow reversal will unlock value in West Texas Intermediate benchmark crude, which has been largely confined to use by Midwest refiners because of its delivery to the landlocked hub of Cushing. WTI is the crude most often delivered against the Nymex light, sweet crude-oil futures contract. The lack of infrastructure to move WTI crude out of Cushing has kept the crude sharply undervalued against world market prices.
Light, sweet crude oil for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was 2.3%, or $2.28, higher, at $101.65 a barrel. It traded to an intraday high of $101.62 a barrel, the most since June 9, the latest time crude settled above $100.
Conoco, which has been shedding assets as part of a strategic redirection, also said Wednesday that it will sell its 16.55% interest in the Colonial Pipeline Co. to Caisse de depot et Placement du Quebec. The oil company said proceeds from the two pipeline deals would total $2 billion