Even Keystone, newly completed, already has a planned expansion by TransCanada.
Even Keystone, newly completed, already has a planned expansion by TransCanada.
Ahh... I see... I’ll have to check on it later... I’m going to watch the Super Bowl now... see y’all later...
Oil industry
Cushing is a major hub in oil supply connecting the Gulf Coast suppliers with northern consumers. Cushing is famous as a price settlement point for West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and has been cited as the most significant trading hub for crude oil in North America. As of 2007, Cushing holds 5% to 10% of the total U.S. crude inventory. Signs made of a pipe and valve on the major highways near town proclaim Cushing to be the "Pipeline Crossroads of the World", and the town is surrounded by several tank farms. Most storage tanks are owned by four entities: oil giant BP, and energy-transport and logistics firms Enbridge Energy Partners, Plains All American Pipeline, and SemGroup Energy Partners.
On April 13, 2007, the now-defunct Lehman Brothers released a study which claimed that WTI Crude at Cushing is no longer an accurate gauge of world oil prices. A large stockpile of oil at the facility (mainly due to a Valero refinery shutdown) has caused prices to be artificially depressed at the Cushing pricing point. This gap relative to world markets increased in early 2009 to nearly $12 per barrel at times, causing Saudi Arabia, a leading oil exporter and OPEC member, to announce an end to benchmarking its own oil prices to WTI.
Cushing will be the southernmost hub of the proposed 2,148 mile Keystone Pipeline that will transport up to 590,000 barrels a day of crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta. Other major pipelines reaching Cushing include the Spearhead and Pegasus pipelines.
Historically
In the early 20th century, Cushing was a center for exploration of and production from nearby oil fields. At least two refineries operated in the town. As the oil fields started to run dry, starting in the 1940s, production and refining became less important. However, the maze of pipelines and tanks that had been built led to the NYMEX choosing Cushing as the official delivery point for its light sweet crude futures contract in 1983.