Plains All American & Valero Team Up to build new Pipeline

A nearly 45-mile crude oil pipeline that would run from Memphis to Marshall County, Mississippi, is being proposed by a joint venture of Plains All American Pipeline and Valero Energy Corp.

The pipeline, named the Byhalia Connection, would connect two existing crude oil pipelines: the Diamond Pipeline that supplies the Valero Memphis Refinery with crude oil and the Capline Pipeline that runs between Illinois and the Gulf Coast.

The currently proposed route has the pipeline start near North Rivergate Road in South Memphis. It would then snake south into Mississippi and go east into the Hernando area. The pipeline would then cross Interstate 55 before traveling through DeSoto County and going into Marshall County, south of Collierville.

Karen Rugaard, manager of communications and public affairs for Plains All American Pipeline, said the proposed route comes after months of discussions with local leaders and landowners, but added that it could change. Byhalia will hold open houses about the pipeline starting in January.

“We feel good about this proposed route at this point in time,” Rugaard said.

Under Byhalia’s current project timeline, construction is slated to start in the second half of 2020. The pipeline would then be in service in the second half of 2021.