This map visualizes the ten significant companies’ dominance of crude oil transmission pipeline infrastructure throughout the United States and Canada. Selected by pipeline length, it is a map of the United States and Canada’s major crude oil transmission pipeline networks. Ten North America crude oil companies dominate the energy transmission network.
Methodology Of Mapping The Crude Oil Pipelines
This map is the most precise depiction of crude oil transmission pipeline ownership in the United States and Canada. Our data collection process involved the gathering and curation of data sets from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), including the names of operators and pipelines across the region, ensuring the highest level of accuracy. This data includes interstate trunk lines and selected intrastate lines but excludes gathering lines.
Over the past twenty years, the midstream energy industry has been a dynamic landscape of mergers and acquisitions. This dynamism has led to many pipelines involving joint ventures and partnerships, with certain operators belonging to parent companies. For instance, Energy Transfer owns Sunoco and inherits the pipelines, including the Permian Express Oil Pipeline. We curated this data to portray the actual ownership of pipelines, reflecting the current state of the industry.
Pipelines owned by a limited partnership are attributed to the general partner. For example, Western Midstream Partners, LP (WES) owns the Western gas pipeline. The general partner is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Occidental.
In cases where a 50/50 joint venture owns a pipeline, the pipeline will be attributed to the main operator. For example, the Seaway Crude Pipeline is a 50/50 joint venture between Enterprise Partners, the operator, and Enbridge, which purchased its ownership interest from ConocoPhillips on November 16, 2011. Therefore, ownership on the map attributes to Enbridge.
For other joint ventures like 85/15 split ownership, the owner with the largest share of ownership will represent the pipeline on the map.
The total pipeline length for each company was calculated using native QGIS spatial functions and algorithms.
The Longest Transmission Crude Oil Pipeline Networks By Company
Total miles includes interstate trunk lines and selected intrastate lines but excludes gathering lines.
1. Enbridge
Transmission pipeline length: 9,578 miles
On September 6th, 2016, Canadian Pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. agreed to buy Houston’s Spectra Energy Corp. in an all-stock deal valued at about $28 billion, creating a North American energy infrastructure giant. By doing so, Enbridge acquired the Express System and Platte Pipelines, adding on an additional 1,683 miles of pipeline.
2. TC Energy
Transmission pipeline length: 6,165 miles
TC Energy, traded as TSX: TRP and part of the S&P/TSX 60 index, has been a leader in the energy industry since 1951. Based in Calgary, Alberta, the company operates across Canada, Mexico, and the United States, offering services like pipeline transport, gas storage, and electricity generation.
3. Energy Transfer
Transmission pipeline length: 5,040 miles
In 2012, Energy Transfer purchased petroleum operator Sunoco in a deal valued at about $5.3 billion. All of the Sunoco pipelines will be attributed to ET. This includes the Permian Express Oil Pipeline, which was originally owned by Sunoco Logistics(85%) and ExxonMobil (15%) in a joint venture called Permian Express Partners LLC. In 2017, Sunoco Logistics merged with Energy Transfer and became its wholly-owned subsidiary. To this date, Exxon Mobil retains control of 15% of the Permian Express Partner assets.
Energy Transfer And Lotus Midstream announced on March 27, 2023, that Energy Transfer would acquire Lotus Midstream Operations and its assets in a $1.45 billion deal.
https://ir.energytransfer.com/news-releases/news-release-details/energy-transfer-acquire-lotus-midstream-145-billion-transaction
4. Plains
Transmission pipeline length: 4,346 miles
Plains Resources, founded in 1981, began as an oil and gas exploration and production company. In the ’90s, it focused solely on crude, acquiring terminals, gathering systems and pipelines, and creating a midstream network. Plains went public in 1988 and went on a merger and acquisition spree.
Although Plains has only 4,346 compared to Enbridge, it maintains 18,075 miles of active crude oil pipelines, including transmission and gathering systems.
5. Phillips 66
Transmission pipeline length: 2,507 miles
Phillips 66 is a spin off of ConocoPhillips’s. The company engages in refining, transporting, and marketing natural gas liquids (NGL).
