Plains to Construct Shafter Expansion Project

Plains All American Pipeline is to construct its Shafter Expansion project in the US for $50m, under a five-year transportation agreement with a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum.

The project involves the construction of a 15-mile liquefied petroleum gas pipeline system with a designed capacity of over 10,000 barrels per day and related upgrades to its Shafter LPG processing facility near Bakersfield, California.

The pipeline will link the Shafter facility with Occidental’s Elk Hills gas processing plant and related infrastructure.

The project is scheduled to start its service during the third quarter of 2012, according to Plains.

The Shafter facility includes nearly 200,000 barrels of natural gas liquid storage, and a processing facility with a butane isomerisation capacity of 14,000bpd and an NGL fractionation capacity of 12,000bpd.