Plains, Enterprise Products Form Texas Pipeline Venture

Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) and Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) are forming a joint venture to combine previously announced projects into a single crude-oil pipeline in South Texas.

The 140-mile (225-kilometer) conduit will have the capacity of 350,000 barrels a day and will carry oil and condensate from Texas’s Eagle Ford Shale field to Corpus Christi, the Houston- based companies said in a statement today. The proposed project has long-term commitments from shippers totaling 210,000 barrels a day.

The companies had planned separate pipelines with capacities of 300,000 and 350,000 barrels through the same area, Rick Rainey, an Enterprise spokesman, said in a telephone interview. Combining the projects “allows more efficient use of our capital,” he said.

Plains will operate the system, which is expected to open in the fourth quarter.

Plains said second-quarter earnings rose to $378 million, or $1.85 a share, from $225 million, or $1.13 a share, a year earlier, according to a separate statement. The results were 19 cents higher than the average of four analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Plains’ shares rose 1.4 percent to close at $87.35 in New York. Enterprise climbed 1.3 percent to $53.63.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Lee in Dallas at mlee326@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net