Locator: 51928ONEOK.
Reposting.
RBN Energy: ONEOK's Denver expansion opens door to further growth to the west. Link here. Archived.
ONEOK’s recently completed expansion of its Greater Denver refined products pipeline does more than just add 35 Mb/d of capacity to ship jet fuel to Denver International Airport. The midstream giant has larger ambitions for the 230-mile line that originates in Scott City, KS, as it also links Denver to Midcontinent and Gulf Coast supplies and could eventually carry up to 200 Mb/d of refined products. The project sits at the intersection of two increasingly important trends: Large, growing airports are becoming important anchors for new fuel infrastructure, while pipeline developers are looking for ways to push more barrels west into growing (and potentially tighter) markets in the Rockies and beyond. In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at how ONEOK’s Denver project fits into both trends.
First, some background: In July 2024, ONEOK announced its $480 million Denver Expansion project (green-striped line in Figure 1 below). The project extended the company's existing El Dorado-Denver Pipeline, part of its Midcontinent-to-Denver refined products system, from Scott City, KS, to Denver. It used 10- and 16-inch pipeline segments and added pump stations. Randy Lentz, ONEOK’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, said in the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call that it adds capacity in “one of the fastest-growing markets in our footprint and provides a new direct jet fuel connection to Denver International Airport.” The pipeline, which was completed in August and is fully contracted under long-term agreements, is designed with future growth opportunities in mind and can transport a variety of refined products — including jet fuel, gasoline, diesel and renewable fuels — to the Denver airport, which has an existing connection to ONEOK’s nearby Aurora fuel terminal. With the completion of the Denver Expansion project, ONEOK has strengthened a critical fuel corridor and expanded capacity to meet the Denver region's growing energy needs, the company said.
