BP Midstream Partners Considers Expanding Mars Oil Pipeline

BP Midstream Partners LP is considering expanding its Mars crude oil pipeline to accommodate new volumes from offshore oil fields, Chief Financial Officer Craig Coburn said on Tuesday. The Mars pipeline, which has a mainline capacity of about 400,000 bpd, would potentially be expanded to ship increased crude volumes from Gulf of Mexico fields, such as Vito and Power Nap, Coburn told analysts and investors on the company’s third quarter earnings call. More details about any plans will be given early next year, Coburn said. BPMP owns a 28.5% interest in Mars, according to its website.

BP Midstream’s total third quarter pipeline gross throughput was more than 1.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, slightly lower than the previous quarter, Coburn said. The decline was due, in part, to disruptions in service caused by Hurricane Barry in July. Caesar, a crude oil pipeline, Cleopatra, which carries natural gas, and the Ursa oil pipeline all reported lower throughput for the quarter due to the hurricane and maintenance activity by offshore producers, Coburn said. The gross throughput impact of Barry was approximately 100,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent, he added.

Offsetting the disruptions was record throughput on the BP 2 pipeline, Coburn said. He said throughput on the pipeline during the third quarter was a record 316,000 barrels per day, the highest achieved on BP 2 since its initial public offering.

“We expect pipeline gross throughput in the fourth quarter to be higher than first quarter,” Coburn said.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Editing by Tom Brown)