Jul 17, 2002 |
PAA Announces Completion of Phase II Cushing Terminal Expansion |
(Houston – July 17, 2002) Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. (NYSE: PAA) announced today that it has completed the Phase II expansion of its Cushing Terminal Facility. Under the Phase II expansion, Plains All American constructed approximately 1.1 million barrels of new tankage at its crude oil storage and terminal facility located in Cushing, Oklahoma. The new tanks were completed on time and on budget and became operational on July 1, 2002. The Phase II expansion project expanded the total capacity of the facility to approximately 4.2 million barrels and cost approximately $11 million. The Partnership’s Phase III expansion of its Cushing Terminal Facility remains on schedule and on budget and is expected to be placed into service by January 1, 2003. The Phase III expansion project consists of an additional 1.1 million barrels of new tankage and will bring the total facility size to approximately 5.3 million barrels. Construction of the original Cushing Terminal was completed in 1994 with an initial capacity of 2.0 million barrels. The Phase I expansion was completed in mid-1999 and added approximately 1.1 million barrels of additional tank capacity. Collectively, the Phase II and Phase III expansion projects will increase the aggregate capacity of the Partnership’s Cushing Terminal Facility by approximately 70%. Mark F. Shires, Vice President of Operations of Plains All American, said, “We are very pleased to have completed another significant expansion of our Cushing Terminal Facility. This expansion, along with our pending Phase III expansion, will help us continue to enjoy the benefits derived from the counter-cyclical balance between our terminalling and storage activities and our gathering and marketing activities. This new storage capacity will also enable us to better serve the needs of our existing customers and complement our expanding lease gathering business.” Shires noted that the Cushing Terminal is one of the most modern, large-scale crude oil terminalling facilities in the United States, incorporating environmental safeguards and operational enhancements designed to safely and efficiently terminal, store, aggregate and segregate large volumes and multiple varieties of both foreign and domestic crude oil. Upon completion of the Phase III expansion project, Plains All American’s Cushing Terminal Facility will consist of fourteen 100,000 barrel tanks, four 150,000 barrel tanks, twelve 270,000 barrel tanks and a manifold and pumping system capable of handling up to 800,000 barrels of crude oil throughput per day. Cushing, Oklahoma, is the official designated delivery location for crude oil futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (“NYMEX”).
Plains All American is the largest independent owner and operator of storage and terminalling capacity in Cushing and its facility is an approved NYMEX delivery location. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties, including risks and uncertainties typically associated with construction projects, such as unanticipated shortages of materials or skilled labor, weather interference or cost increases. The risks and uncertainties associated with the Partnership’s business include, among other things, demand for various grades of crude oil and resulting changes in pricing conditions, successful third party drilling efforts and completion of announced oil-sands projects, availability of third party production volumes for transportation and marketing, regulatory changes and other factors and uncertainties inherent in the marketing, transportation, terminalling, gathering and storage of crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas discussed in the Partnership’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. is engaged in interstate and intrastate crude oil transportation, terminalling and storage, as well as crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas gathering and marketing activities, primarily in Texas, California, Oklahoma and Louisiana and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Partnership’s common units are traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “PAA.” The Partnership is headquartered in Houston, Texas. |
|