Crude oil pipelines are having a moment in the spotlight this week with news of shipper opportunities, project updates, and a greenlight. Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest on three of them starting with Tulsa-based NGL Energy Partners, which launched an open season today on its 550-mile Grand Mesa Pipeline. Stretching from the DJ Basin to NGL’s storage terminal at the Cushing Hub, Grand Mesa transports 150 MBPD and is now offering 40 MBPD of capacity to make the supply trip at a discounted rate with access to Midcontinent markets and Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Doors close January 5.

Meanwhile, Calgary-based Enbridge is eyeing an open season before you need a 2024 calendar. The company is ready-set-go for an expansion of its 840-mile Gray Oak Pipeline, which flows 900 MBPD of Permian crude to the company’s Ingleside export terminal near Corpus Christi. The project will add another 200 MBPD of capacity on the gray lady. This, ahead of grand openings for four offshore export facilities currently in the planning stage.

Enbridge has also cleared another hurdle in what’s become a years-long quest to replace its 70-year-old Line 5 pipeline that flows 540 MBPD of crude and propane from Wisc., through Mich., into Ontario. The Michigan Public Service Commission has approved an Enbridge application to replace Line 5’s dual pipeline segments buried under the Straits of Mackinac with a single line encased in a tunnel 60’ to 370’ beneath the lakebed. While more bumps lie ahead for Enbridge and its beleaguered Line 5, any win at this point is cause for celebration.