NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - NuStar Logistics, L.P. and TexStar Midstream Stream Services L.P. said on Tuesday they plan to build a new pipeline system to carry Eagle Ford Shale crude and condensate from south Texas fields to NuStar's Corpus Christi, Texas terminal, the latest in a series of pipeline expansions to make the crude accessible to the large refineries that dot the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Eagle Ford Shale is valued because it contains crude oil and natural gas that is rich in liquids that can be stripped out and sold for a premium to refiners.
Privately held TexStar will build and operate a 65-mile, 12-inch pipeline to carry 120,000 barrels per day of crude and condensate from the Eagle Ford Shale gas plays in southern Texas to Three Rivers, where NuStar will build a new storage facility.
The storage facility will be connected an existing 16-inch pipeline that will be able to carry 200,000 barrels per day into NuStar's Corpus Christi North Beach Terminal.
The terminal now has 2 million barrels of storage capacity and the Port of Corpus Christi has approved a land lease option agreement allowing for expansion on 15 acres contiguous to the existing property.
The projects are expected to be in service in the second quarter of 2012.
In February, privately-held Flint Hills Resources bought an oil storage terminal in Corpus Christi that would supply by 200,000 barrels per day of liquids from Eagle Ford.
Flint Hills, a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc, expects outbound waterborne shipments from the retrofitted facilities to Texas and Louisiana refineries begin by the middle of 2012.
Flint Hills owns and operates a 344,500-barrels-per-day refinery across the bay in Corpus Christi, Texas, which is already served by a pipeline from Ingleside.
Approval of another pipeline, to be constructed and owned by Koch Pipeline Co, was approved in December to carry Eagle Ford oil.
Magellan Midstream Partners (MMP.N: Quote) said in early March it was planning a new 180,000 bpd pipeline to carry Eagle Ford Shale liquids to refineries in Corpus Christi, Houston and Beaumont, Texas.
Construction is expected to take 14 to 18 months, the company said.
(Reporting by Janet McGurty; Editing by David Gregorio)
