Enbridge Line 61 Oil Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy.

Sub-articles:

FrackSwarm portal Coal terminals Coal transport and infrastructure Oil and gas pipelines LNG terminals Pipeline construction costs Methodology and data notes

Enbridge Line 61 Oil Pipeline is an oil pipeline in the United States. It is part of the Enbridge Mainline system.

Location

The pipeline runs from Superior, Wisconsin, to Flanagan, Illinois.

Loading map...

{"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"400px","height":"300px","centre":{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":43.729265,"lon":-89.34419,"icon":""},"title":"","label":"","icon":"","visitedicon":"","lines":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","strokeColor":"#FF0000","strokeOpacity":"1","strokeWeight":"2","pos":[{"lat":46.703624,"lon":-92.080242},{"lat":46.503526,"lon":-91.860574},{"lat":46.099495,"lon":-91.824756},{"lat":45.845985,"lon":-91.540447},{"lat":45.463048,"lon":-91.105578},{"lat":44.661252,"lon":-90.16949},{"lat":44.482315,"lon":-89.964045},{"lat":43.539975,"lon":-89.462865},{"lat":42.630495,"lon":-88.63902},{"lat":42.264678,"lon":-88.845507},{"lat":40.878042,"lon":-88.860792}]}],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"wmsoverlay":false,"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":5,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"markercluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","enablefullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[]}

Project Details

• Operator: Enbridge
• Current capacity: 1,200,000 barrels per day
• Proposed capacity:
• Length: 731 kilometers (454 miles)
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2009

Background

Line 61 is a 42-inch, 454-mile oil sands pipeline that spans from Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin, to its Flanagan Terminal near Pontiac, Illinois.

The pipeline began operating in 2009. In 2014 the pipeline's capacity was increased from 400,000 to 560,000 barrels per day (bpd).

In December 2012, Enbridge announced a further expansion, subject to regulatory review and approvals, to increase the capacity to 1.2 million bpd. The increased capacity will come from additional pumps along Line 61, not new pipeline construction. Construction for Phase 2 began in spring 2014 and is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2016.

The expansion was reported as completed by 2017. Enbridge has floated the idea of further expanding the pipeline or building a twin pipeline ("Line 61 Twin"), but Line 61 is currently running at 75% full capacity - 900,000 bpd of the 1,200,000 bpd capacity - and Enbridge said it is not currently planning an expansion.