Plains All American Pipelines detected a rising level of a corrosive agent in Permian Basin crude headed to refineries in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has warned shippers that a tariff will be enforced if the quality does not improve, according to a report from Reuters.
Siting anonymous sources, Reuters reported that the company notified shippers that mercaptan levels of 75 ppm were “being delivered to various origin points” on its network. In October, shippers will be charged a 50 cents/bbl fee if the chemical does not fall to acceptable levels.
Plains All American said the notice was not unusual.
“Plains’ existing tariff provisions cover off-spec barrels across our system. The recent notice simply reminded shippers that these provisions exist and will be enforced,” a spokesman for Plains said in an e-mail to Hart Energy.
Mercaptans are an organic sulfide compound that occur naturally. Non-corrosive compounds are added to natural gas so that its rotten-egg odor can signal leaks.
According to a listing on the Chemical Products Industries website, the wrong type of mercaptans at high enough levels can corrode pipelines.
High mercaptan content can also result in significant damage to the catalysts used in refineries, lowering the overall quality and size of the yield. The gases emitted during the process can become hazardous to the health of refinery workers.
Corpus Christi is the largest crude port in the U.S. and moves more than 2.4 MMbbl/d. Thanks to its export infrastructure, deep port and relatively light traffic, the area has long been favored as a shipping point for U.S. producers, especially those in the Permian.