Pipeline Problems Exacerbate West Coast Oil Surplus

A discussion showed that Alaskan sour crude has displaced imported sour crude used by west coast refiners, but not the 600,000 bbl/day of imported sweet crude. In the absence of pipelines, the 550,000 bbl/day excess of Alaskan crude oil must be moved to the Gulf Coast by tankers. Atlantic Richfield Co. already has been forced to abandon its plans to deliver crude to the northern tier states by means of the existing 744 mi long Trans Mountain Pipeline between Puget Sound and Edmonton, Alberta, which ties in with the continental network of pipeline systems. Standard Oil Co. (Ohio)'s proposal to establish a 1027 mi Pactex pipeline from Long Beach, Calif., to Midland, Tex., is still an open question. Four other proposals have been made, including one by the Northern Tier Pipeline Co. which has considerable political support. In this plan, a deepwater terminal for supertankers would be built at Port Angeles. From there, the pipeline would go around Puget Sound's south end, swing north towards Seattle and then proceed 1550 mi to Clearbrook, Minn. The project would have a design capacity of 1.2 million bbl/day.