Pilgrim Pipeline Would Carry Shale Crude from Albany to Linden

This is the first of a two-part blog about the Pilgrim Pipeline.

Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings, LLC is proposing to build a 150-mile, 16-inch pipeline from Albany, NY to Linden, NJ in about 2 years.

The pipeline would carry 200,000 barrels-per-day of light crude oil to Linden that is now railed to Albany from the Bakken fields in North Dakota. It would send back gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil and aviation fuel from Linden.

The Phillips 66 Bayway refinery in Linden has been receiving as much as 100,000 barrels-per-day of shale crude, by rail from the Bakken, and by tanker from the Eagle Ford fields in Texas (each barrel contains 42 gallons). Phillips is building a new rail offloading facility in Linden that will increase tanker shipments by 75,000 barrels-per-day by the second half of this year, for at least five years. Bayway can process up to 238,000 barrels-per-day.

Pilgrim began talks with municipalities In NJ and NY about accessing public lands last fall. On September 10, 2013, Pilgrim met with the Township Committee of Montville, NJ, about evaluating twelve township properties, according to municipal records. Montville is about thirty one miles northwest of Linden in Morris County, four miles north of where Interstate 287 crosses I-80.

From I-287 in NJ, the pipeline would follow the NY Thruway (I-87) right-of-way to Albany. The pipeline may stretch through Orange and Ulster counties in NY, according to the Times-Herald Record in October. In September Pilgrim was securing a "Survey Permit.... to conduct surveys for a pipeline route" in the area around Mountainville, Orange County.

The President and Vice President of Pilgrim had previously worked for Koch Industries, which has no financial interest in the pipeline, according to a Pilgrim spokesperson. Pilgrim will not submit proposals to federal and state regulators for about six months.

The first major oil pipeline in NJ and the US was a six inch line built in 1881 by Standard Oil from Olean, NY, entering NJ in Sussex County, and crossing Morris County to Bayonne. The first pipeline carrying unrefined petroleum from Texas reached the Bayway refinery on March 3, 1944.

A 2012 map of major crude oil pipelines and refineries in Canada and the US is here.

Pipeline AND Trains, Not OR

The Wall Street Journal reported in August of 2013 that more than $40 billion is invested just for constructing oil pipelines for “re-plumbing the country” over the next 10-15 years, because “all of the pipes are pointed in the wrong direction” for moving shale crude.

The most crude oil is now moving through the US since the government began keeping records in 1981. Imports are continuing to fall, for now. A pipeline executive described the present boom market this way: "This has got to be one of the best things that has happened in our economy in the past 10 years. It is better than the iPad."

According to the WSJ, most analysts predict that the amount of oil shipped by barge and truck will decline as new pipelines come on line - but not rail. That's not good, if it's still true. When this article was written, it was assumed that only rail would be available for shipping Bakken crude to the east and west coasts.

Trains move 69% of the 800,000 barrels a day of crude from the Bakken fields in North Dakota. Mile-long crude trains have been derailing across the country because the infrastructure was not ready for them. Three “Bomb Trains” have exploded since July of 2013 carrying the volatile Bakken crude, reportedly because not enough propane is removed before it is transported. One train blew up the town center of Lac Megantic in Quebec and killed 47 people. The National Transportation Safety Board and the US Department of Transportaion are only beginning to improve safety regulations for oil shipments by tank cars. The problems with the “virtual pipeline” are discussed in two previous blogs: “More Bakken Crude Will Flow to Linden on Rails, Hudson River” and “DOT-111: the Ford Pinto of Railroad Cars”.

Things are coming together for the Pilgrim Pipeline.

The second of a two-part blog about the Pilgrim Pipeline is at http://middletown-nj.patch.com/blogs/bill-simmonss-blog.