Oil pipeline construction begins
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Bryon Saxton
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
bsaxton@standard.net
It will connect refineries to Wyoming, help with Utah's petroleum demand
LAYTON -- A new 95-mile pipeline from Wyoming to "refinery row" on the border of Davis and Salt Lake counties is under construction and will meet Utah's increasing demand for petroleum, officials said.
The Salt Lake City 16 Pipeline, owned by Plains All-American and being built by Rocky Mountain Pipeline System LLC, will consist of a 16-inch-diameter buried pipe. It is proposed to run parallel, where it can, to an existing Rocky Mountain pipeline, said Cindy Gubler, company public information officer.
Because the existing pipeline was put in the ground in the 1930s, Gubler said, there may be obstructions that force the pipeline outside the existing parallel corridor.
Gubler said in the near future open houses will be hosted in different locations throughout Davis County to educate the public on the project.
One city the pipeline project could affect is Layton.
Layton Mayor Steve Curtis said the city has received a proposed route map. The map shows the pipeline going from "border to border" following the U.S. 89 corridor where the company has an existing pipeline.
The map also shows where the pipeline will be excavated and where it will be bored, he said.
The pipeline is proposed to follow a route west through Weber Canyon and then along U.S. 89 before connecting into the existing Interstate 15 corridor by using previous pipeline and state road rights of way, Gubler said.
The objective is to minimize the impact on private land-owners, Gubler said. The exact mapping route of the pipeline and its cost are not yet available, she said.
Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Andy Neff said it is unknown what impacts on traffic will be associated with the project.
He said Rocky Mountain needs to apply for and obtain a permit from the state to work in the Interstate 15 right of way. "We need to understand how it is going to affect our road corridor," he said. Rocky Mountain is in the process of applying for a permit to do work in the U.S. 89 corridor, he said.
The first phase of the project is already under construction between the Utah/Wyoming border and Croydon, Gubler said.
The pipeline originates at the Legacy Pump Station near the Anschutz Frontier Pipeline, Inc. pump station, about 18 miles southwest of Evanston, Wyo. It will carry crude oil.
"It's a common carrier pipeline," she said.
Plains All-American owns the pipeline, with other refineries paying a fee to ship product through it, Gubler said.
The second phase of construction on the pipeline is expected to begin this summer, with the pipeline to begin serving the North Salt Lake refining center in Davis County by the first quarter of 2008.
Utah demand for petroleum products has continued to grow over the past several years as the population growth of the region has increased, Gubler said.
Demand has increased by more than 2.5 percent annually since 1997, according to the Energy Analyst International, a third-party market analyst, 2005 Rocky Mountain Report.
Projections for the next 10 years indicate demand will continue to increase, she said. To meet the demand, the refineries in North Salt Lake have undertaken efforts to increase refinery capacity.
Because the pipeline in some locations may be forced outside existing rights of way, Gubler said, Rocky Mountain is also in the process of working with a few private landowners in acquiring rights of way.
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