The Front Range Urban Corridor, which runs from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to
Pueblo, Colorado, and includes the Colorado cities of Denver, Colorado Springs,
Fort Collins, Boulder, and Greeley is that the Rocky Mountain region’s largest energy
market. Colorado acts as a key transporter with 17,760 miles of gas
interstate pipeline and 16,320 miles of oil interstate pipelines, 4% of the
nation’s total.17 In 2013, the state had 58,200 miles of intrastate gas pipelines,
including gas distribution as well as gas transmission, and gas gathering lines.
These pipelines support not only Coloradans but also the Rocky Mountain
region and therefore the West Coast.
CRUDE OIL AND REFINED FUEL PIPELINES
Increasing production within the Niobrara Shale basin has led to a rise in crude
oil pipelines being built or repurposed. Since demand for refined petroleum
products exceeds refining capacity, additional pipelines allow Colorado crude
oil to be transported as well as to refineries out of state. Six major interstate pipelines help
supply refined fuels to the Colorado market.
Magellan’s Chase Pipeline is that the only pipeline system which transports refined
fuels from Kansas refineries within the Midwest to its destination within the Rocky
Mountain region. Denver also receives a refined fuel supply from three pipelines
originating at Texas Panhandle refineries: Borger-Denver, Central West, and
McKee-Denver. These pipelines as well as move supply from the Rocky Mountain area to
the West Coast. Both the Rocky Mountain System and Medicine Bow Pipeline
receive refined fuels from Wyoming refineries before transporting the fuel to
the Denver area. The Rocky Mountain System as well as also receives fuels supplied from a
Colorado refinery in Commerce City as well as transporting approximately 29,000 barrels
per day from the Suncor Energy Refinery.
Crude Oil and Refined Prod.
NATURAL GAS PROCESSING PLANTS
With abundant gas produced in Colorado, gas processing
plants are critical for the industry and end-users, like manufacturers
and consumers. These plants remove water and other impurities within the
gas at the plant inlet as well as capture or fractionate gas liquids (NGLs)
entrained within the gas, before allowing as well as the gas treated to pipeline
specifications to flow via pipeline.
and either storing or transporting the
NGLs (i.e. ethane, propane, butane, and pentane, to other markets via
tanker or dedicated pipeline.) Colorado has over 40 processing plants,
usually located in areas of gas and oil development, supporting
4,600 jobs stemming from construction, operation, and maintenance of
the plants.