A consortium of pipeline giants Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), Magellan Midstream Partners (MMP), MPLX and the Delek Group will construct a multibillion dollar 966-km oil pipeline carrying Permian Basin oil to Houston on the Texas coast.

Because of the current dearth of pipelines in the United States shippers are augmenting the preferred way to ship oil through pipelines with cargo trucks and rail.

The pipeline is expected to be operational in mid-2020 with multiple Texas origins, and will have the strategic capability to transport oil to ETP's Nederland terminal and MMP's East Houston terminal for ultimate delivery through their respective distribution systems.

Not to be outdone, Exxon Mobil said it is entering the Permian pipeline race by partnering with Houston's Plains All American Pipeline to build its own crude pipeline to Houston. And Houston's Enterprise Products Partners recently completed its 670-km Midland-to-Sealy crude pipeline into the Houston area.

Most of the other major crude pipeline projects are directed toward Corpus Christi, where the port is becoming a hub for crude oil exports.
Plains, which currently owns the only major pipeline that runs from the Permian to Corpus Christi, also plans to complete a pipeline system - Cactus II - by late 2019.