US pipeline overbuild forces executives to seek new opportunities

New York

A DOUBLING of pipeline capacity in one of the most prolific US shale plays may have gone overboard in its rush to move oil to market, top pipeline company executives said during earnings announcements over the past week.

With more than one million barrels per day of additional pipeline capacity moving oil from the Permian Basin of West Texas added since early 2014, companies dependent on new projects to drive revenue growth are now faced with a limit. The buildout has also caused some temporary inbalances in spot prices, traders say, as pipelines flood Houston-area refiners with surplus crude.