Tulsa-based Explorer pursues Dallas-area pipeline capacity increase

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), May 10, 2007 by Kirby Lee Davis

Explorer Pipeline Co. said it will extend its Dallas-area pipeline capacity by 50 percent.

The Tulsa transporter of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel has completed conceptual engineering and design plans to expand its Houston-to-Dallas-to-Tulsa line by 230,000 barrels per day. No timetable or cost estimates were revealed.

Officials said Explorer also intends to add a spur line into the Dallas/Fort Worth area capable of transporting 100,000 barrels daily.

That comes as the company completed a 20,000-per-day capacity expansion into the Metroplex.

With capacity now up to 660,000 barrels per day, Chief Executive Tim Felt said Explorer's southern system has drawn strong interest from fuel shippers.

"We expect the 20,000-barrels-per-day capacity to be fully utilized early on," he said of its completed expansion.

Its northern system, which runs from Tulsa to St. Louis and Chicago, has capacity of 450,000 barrels daily.

Explorer (www.expl.com) transports refined products with more than 72 different product specifications for more than 60 different shippers. Its staff of 160, about half of those in the Tulsa area, serve more than 70 major population centers in 16 states.

The company's 1,400-mile pipeline runs 28 inches in diameter from Port Arthur, Texas, to Tulsa and 24 inches from Tulsa to Hammond, Ind. Officials have said its 2003 capacity expansion gave Explorer the ability to move a barrel of product from the Gulf Coast to Chicago in 11 days.

Besides Glenpool, its major tankage and terminals are at Port Arthur, Greenville and Grapevine, Texas; Wood River, Ill.; and Hammond. Its six field locations each employ 10 to 15 workers. Explorer also has 32 pump stations throughout the system.

Before this project completion, Explorer last expanded its pipeline in 2003 to add 300,000 barrels-a-day capacity through 12 pumping stations in its southern pipeline system from the Gulf Coast to Glenpool.