Knight Warrior to Build 160-Mile East Texas Pipeline
Texas-based Knight Warrior LLC plans to move forward with a 160-mile crude oil pipeline. The company announced Jan. 26 that it had reached several key milestones on the project, which will link the emerging East Texas Eaglebine/Woodbine crude oil resource play to the Houston refining and export markets. The project is scheduled for startup in the second quarter of 2016.
The pipeline is backed by shipper commitments, including a transportation agreement with Vitol, a diversified multinational energy company, and SEI Energy LLC, a natural gas and crude oil marketer/producer services company with offices in Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Oklahoma.
Knight Warrior also announced it awarded contracts to Hatch Mott MacDonald LLC, Contract Land Staff LLC and Apex TITAN Inc. for engineering and design, land management and environmental services, respectively.
Knight Warrior has assembled a team of industry veterans led by Fred Brown, senior project manager, to manage construction of the pipeline. Brown has more than three decades of pipeline experience in the energy and mining industries and is knowledgeable in all aspects of pipeline projects from FEED studies to construction feasibility, route selection, project management, construction techniques and implementation. He will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Knight Warrior project.
“We are pleased with the progress of the project to this point and are confident in the abilities of the experienced team that we have assembled to effectively manage the planning, permitting and construction processes,” Brown said. “Hatch Mott MacDonald, Contract Land Staff and Apex are leaders in their respective fields, and we will rely on their expertise to assist with a sound and reliable project. When completed, the added capacity provided by the Knight Warrior pipeline will help the prolific Eaglebine/Woodbine region achieve its full potential by giving producers there direct access to the Gulf Coast refinery complex, as well as other U.S. and foreign markets.”
The Knight Warrior East Texas project will consist of a 160-mile, 16-in. diameter pipeline originating in Madison County, Texas, continuing south through Walker, Grimes, Montgomery and Harris counties. The pipeline will have an initial capacity of 100,000 barrels per day (bpd), will be expandable up to 200,000 bpd and will serve Eaglebine/Woodbine crude oil producers via two origination stations located near North Zulch and Madisonville, with a third station near Roans Prairie planned to accommodate future production growth in the area. The pipeline will have the capability to segregate and batch crude oil in order to help producers capture value for this premium product. The pipeline is estimated to cost approximately $300 million, subject to final pipeline design and shipper commitments, and is anticipated to be financed using a combination of debt and equity.
Knight Warrior is a subsidiary of Blueknight Energy Partners LP.
Tags: crude oil, Eaglebine, East Texas Pipeline, Knight Warrior LLC, Woodbine
