ments experienced by oil operators.
Gas pipeline operators, however, also
expanded planned additions to their
systems.
A $1.3-million/mile slide in pipeline construction costs helped increase
operators’ desite to add mileage. Compression costs also eased.
Details
Oil pipeline operators’ record profits
outstripped their 22.6% 2014 revenue
increase, and came despite accelerating their expansion rate. Natural gas
pipeline operators’ return to income
growth, meanwhile, was accompanied
by a slowed rate of system growth.
The slower growth rate in oil pipeline revenues as compared with profits resulted in new record earnings as a
percent of revenue of 49.65%, eclipsing the 2011 mark of
48.63%. Natural gas pipeline operators saw their profits
climb 11% to roughly $4.8 billion, returning to 2012 lev-
els after slipping in 2013, on a more
than 15% increase in revenues. (Fig.
1).
Proposed new-build natural gas
mileage was more than four times
2014’s announced build, while
planned horsepower additions exceeded 1.6-million, more than doubling
the 705,604 proposed last year.
Labor remained the most expensive
construction component, but was only
marginally more costly on a per mile
basis than the miscellaneous costs category of which contingencies make up
a large part. Both categories were substantially cheaper per mile than the
year before.
The roughly $1.3-million decrease in estimated $/mile
land pipeline construction costs brought them to $5.24 million per mile, 20% lower than 2014. Pipeline labor prices
remained the single most expensive per-mile item at $2 million/mile, but were 28% lower than last year. Both material
TOP 10 US INTERSTATE OIL PIPELINE COMPANIES—2014
Trunkline traffic, Income,
Company Mileage Company millionbbl-miles Company $1,000
1 Magellan Pipeline Co. LP . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,415 Colonial Pipeline Co. 852,749 TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP 665,532
2 Mid-America Pipeline Co. LLC . . . . . . . . . 8,068 Enbridge Energy LP 582,341 Enbridge Energy LP 642,833
3 Plains Pipeline LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,830 TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP 209,833 Enterprise Crude Pipeline LLC 598,050
4 Sunoco Pipeline LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,923 Magellan Pipeline Co. LP 154, 120 BreitBurn Operating LP 520,674
5 Colonial Pipeline Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,586 Plantation Pipe Line Co. 137,023 Chevron Pipe Line Co. 442,856
6 Phillips 66 Pipeline LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 137 Explorer Pipeline Co. 133,396 Plains Pipeline LP 416,324
7 ExxonMobil Pipeline Co.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,958 Plains Pipeline LP 119,974 Shell Pipeline Co. LP 373,021
8 Enterprise TE Products Pipeline Co. LLC . 4,668 Mid-America Pipeline Co. LLC 93,324 Magellan Pipeline Co. LP 348,364
9 Enterprise Crude Pipeline LLC . . . . . . . . . 4,661 Marathon Pipe Line LLC 79,560 Sunoco Pipeline LP 346,433
10 Enbridge Energy LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,486 ConocoPhillips Transporation Alaska Inc. 64,902 Colonial Pipeline Co. 322,262
Total.......................... 61,732 .............................. 2,427,222 ..............................$4,676,349
Partofallcompanies............... 38.46% ................................ 57.89% ................................. 48.85%
Top10totals-2013................ 60, 108.............................. 2,257,053 ..............................$3,493,549
Source: US FERC Form 6: Annual Report of Oil Pipeline Companies, Dec. 31, 2014
TOP 10 US INTERSTATE GAS PIPELINE COMPANIES—2014
Transmission Volumes moved Net income,
Company* mileage Company* for fee, MMcf Company* $1,000
1 Northern Natural Gas Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,781 Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. . . . . 4,655,090 Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331,768
2 Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,917 Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. . . . . . . . . . . . 2,990,155 Texas Eastern Transmission LP . . . . . . . . . . . .318,519
3 El Paso Natural Gas Co.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,222 Texas Eastern Transmission LP . . . . . . . . . 2,610,451 Dominion Transmission Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308,512
4 Columbia Gas Tranmission LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,641 ANR Pipeline Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,785,336 Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. . . . . . . .289,463
5 Texas Eastern Transmission LP . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,592 Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America . . . . . 1,417,903 Florida Gas Transmission Co. LLC . . . . . . . . . .234,412
6 Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp.. . . . . . . . 9,183 Columbia Gas Transmission LLC . . . . . . . . 1,379,418 Columbia Gas Transmission LLC . . . . . . . . . . .200,271
7 Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America . . . . . . . . 9, 122 El Paso Natural Gas Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,318,671 Northern Natural Gas Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150,275
8 ANR Pipeline Co.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,082 Texas Gas Transmission LLC . . . . . . . . . . . 1,154,029 Southern Natural Gas Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146,469
9 Southern Natural Gas Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,033 Dominion Transmission Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 1,151,691 ETC Tiger Pipeline LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130,851
10 Gulf South Pipeline Co. LP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,540 Northern Natural Gas Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,025,465 Kinder Morgan Louisiana Pipeline LLC . . . . . . 130,678
Total.............................. 96, 113............................... 19,488,209 ................................. $2,241,218
Partofmajors ........................ 50.76% .................................. 43.07% .................................... 47.71%
Partofallcompanies................... 49.24% .................................. 42.10% .................................... 46.92%
Total—2013 Top10................... 97,279 ............................... 17,444,840 ................................. $2,080,550
Source: US FERC Forms 2 & 2A: annual reports for natural-gas companies, Dec. 31, 2013
–––––––––––– Miles –––––––––––
Year Gas12 Oil Total1
2005 188,847 131,334 320,181
2006 189,012 140,407 329,419
2007 192,189 147,235 339,424
2008 192,384 146,822 339,206
2009 192,673 148,622 341,295
2010 190,305 147,524 337,829
2011 192,203 149,571 341,774
2012 191,195 151,912 343, 107
2013 189,087 152,016 341, 103
2014 189,366 160,521 349,887
1FERC-defined major gas pipelines only; transmission
mileage.See GAS COMPANIES table for definition of
major and nonmajor companies and details of companies reporting mileage for 2013. 2Revised from initial
publication. Source: US FERC annual reports: Form 6,
oil pipelines; Forms 2 & 2A, gas pipelines
US INTERSTATE PIPELINE MILEAGE
Table 1
