Crude oil flows on Enterprise’s Texas Seaway pipeline fall, leak reported

Crude oil flows on the Seaway pipeline in Texas fell on Wednesday, four sources said, as the pipeline's operator reported a leak on the system to state regulators. 

The 950,000-barrel-per-day Seaway pipeline runs between Cushing, Oklahoma, and the Freeport, Texas, area and connects to the Enterprise Crude Houston (ECHO) terminal, a storage facility in southeast Houston. 

Pipeline owner Enterprise said a crude oil leak on part of the Seaway pipeline system in Houston occurred on Tuesday, according to a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. 

A portion of the pipeline went down on Tuesday night, three sources said on Wednesday. A separate source said the secondary pipeline that runs into the ECHO terminal was out on Tuesday night. Crude flows on the Seaway mainline and the portion running into ECHO were seen lower on Tuesday night.

The Seaway pipeline is jointly owned by Enbridge <ENB.TO> and Enterprise Products Partners.

Enbridge and Enterprise Products did not immediately respond to questions about the Seaway's operations.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude at East Houston, also known as MEH, traded a 95-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures, the strongest since April.

MEH traded as much as 130-cent a barrel premium to U.S. crude futures this morning, a trader said.

Operations on the pipeline are expected to be restored later on Wednesday, two sources said.