Pipelines are why oil in one place can cost $15 less than the same barrel elsewhere — regional prices are largely a map of pipeline capacity. The major systems, how they work at 5 mph, and why building a new one takes longer than the oil boom it serves.
| Pipeline | Route | ≈Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colonial Pipeline | US Gulf Coast → East Coast | ≈2.5 Mb/d products | The East Coast's fuel lifeline — its 2021 ransomware shutdown caused instant shortages |
| Keystone System | Alberta → US Midwest/Gulf | ≈0.6 Mb/d crude | The XL extension was cancelled in 2021 after a decade of controversy |
| Trans Mountain (TMX) | Alberta → Pacific Coast | ≈0.89 Mb/d crude | The 2024 expansion finally gave Canadian crude Asian access |
| Dakota Access | Bakken → Illinois | ≈0.75 Mb/d crude | |
| Druzhba ("Friendship") | Russia → Central Europe | ≈1+ Mb/d historic | World's longest network; flows curtailed by war and embargo |
| East-West (Petroline) | Saudi Arabia, Gulf → Red Sea | ≈5 Mb/d capacity | The main Hormuz bypass |
| ESPO | Siberia → China/Pacific | ≈1.6 Mb/d | Russia's eastern outlet, central since 2022 |
| CPC | Kazakhstan → Black Sea | ≈1.4 Mb/d | Carries most Kazakh exports through Russian territory |
Hand-curated, approximate capacities. The pipeline map meets the sea at Cushing and the export docks; spreads it creates: Brent vs WTI, the WCS discount. Seaborne flows: oil tankers · flow map.
Pump stations every 50–100 miles push crude through buried steel pipe (typically 20–48 inches) at walking pace — about 3–8 mph. Batches of different grades travel in sequence with minimal mixing, monitored from control rooms with pressure sensors and inline inspection "pigs." A barrel takes two to three weeks to cross the US.
Pipelines define regional spreads. When pipeline capacity out of a producing region fills up, the local price falls until barrels can profitably move by costlier rail or truck — the story behind every big WTI–Brent and WCS–WTI blowout. New capacity closes the spread: TMX narrowed the Canadian discount within months of opening.
Per barrel-mile, pipelines spill less and kill fewer people than rail or truck — but when they fail, individual releases can be large and slow to detect. Rail's risk profile is the opposite: smaller average spills, but catastrophic potential (the 2013 Lac-Mégantic disaster killed 47). Regulators generally treat pipelines as the safer bulk mode.
It became the symbolic front line of the climate movement: opponents argued new oil-sands takeaway would lock in higher-carbon production, supporters cited jobs and secure Canadian supply. After 13 years of approvals and reversals across three administrations, the permit was finally revoked in 2021. The oil largely moved anyway — by rail, by other pipelines, and later by TMX.