Marathon Pipe Line LLC, operator of the 40-inch, 1.2 million barrel per day (MMbbl/d) capacity Capline pipeline, announced Oct. 17 that the pipeline’s owners are launching a non-binding open season to gauge shipper interest in a proposed reversal of Capline, which currently transports crude oil from St. James, La., to Patoka, Ill.

The non-binding open season will be managed on behalf of the Capline owners by the law firm of Caldwell Boudreaux Lefler PLLC and will run from Oct. 17 through Nov. 17. If the owners, Plains All American Pipeline, LP (NYSE: PAA), Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) and BP Oil Pipeline Co. decide to proceed, southbound flow could be operational by second-half 2022. Once in southbound service, Capline would have an initial capacity up to 300 Mbbl/d. The reversed pipeline would be able to receive crude oil from connecting carriers at Patoka. At St. James, shippers would have access to a distribution network that includes refineries, terminals, ships, barges and rail.

Marathon Pipe Line, a wholly owned subsidiary of MPLX LP (NYSE: MPLX), the MLP sponsored by MPC, operates Capline. The pipeline was once a major transportation route for delivering crude oil that was imported or produced in the Gulf of Mexico to refineries in the Midwest. In recent years, Capline’s throughput has decreased due to various market factors.