Big Inch Pipeline and the Blob

Since large oil pipelines are so newsy these days with the uneven regulatory progress of TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline to bring Canadian crude to the US, it’s worth noting that this month marks a quiet anniversary of sorts–the 70th–for a pipeline with a very different history–one approved in a relative jiffy at a time of critical oil demand.

Until World War II, oil was chiefly delivered to the Northeast US from Texas oil fields by tanker. But that changed with the country’s entry into the global conflict after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. German U-boat attacks threatened the route, and US authorities decided a large pipeline was the solution to secure oil deliveries to the critical Northeast US and the greater Allied war effort in the face of a severe oil shortage.

There was no fuss, no muss about what to do: America needed a large oil pipeline and the government war agencies approved it. The oil industry was asked to organize a nonprofit corporation to supervise pipeline construction–which included digging up and relocating existing lines–and operation; the government would own the line.

The nonprofit group War Emergency Pipelines (WEP) was incorporated by 11 private oil companies that included Standard Oil of New Jersey, Cities Service Oil, Gulf Oil, Shell Oil and Atlantic Refining Company, according to the booklet “The Big Inch and Little Big Inch Pipelines: The Most Amazing Government Industry Cooperation Ever Achieved.”

According to another Pennsylvania county historical account, on April 21, 1942, the US government okayed financing for the 300,000 b/d, 24-inch Big Inch Pipeline, aimed at delivering Texas crude to Southern Illinois and then east. Big Inch, as the pipe was dubbed, was operated by a consortium of US oil companies. Later, it was largely paralleled by Little Big Inch, a 20-inch line to carry refined products. Little Big Inch originated at Beaumont-area refineries and then snaked up to Linden, New Jersey. Williams Brothers (now Wilbros) was principal contractor on both lines.

Talk about speed: the first purchase order for 137,500 tons of pipe for Big Inch was sent on July 2, initial work began on different line sections August 3 and by the end of September roughly 160 miles of the line’s first leg–from Longview, Texas to Norris City, Illinois, a distance of 530 miles and costing $35 million–had been completed. At Norris City, some oil would be refined and the rest would go east.

Even with Mississippi River flooding in December 1942 and the approach of winter weather, the last joint of the first section was welded on January 20, 1943 and 60,000 b/d of Texas oil reached Norris City, Illinois less than a month later.  But installation of pumping stations and terminals lagged pipeline construction, restricting volumes. By early April, 200,000 b/d was churning through the line, although 300,000 b/d was required to meet the government’s slate of military and civilian oil needs.

Meanwhile, financing of $60 million for the pipeline’s extension eastward was granted in October 1942, construction began the next month, and on July 19, 1943–about 350 days after construction began–a ceremony took place near Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia, to mark the final weld of Big Inch. And, the pipeline had been completed at a cost of $75 million–$20 million under the initial estimate.

Phoenixville–where separate branch lines then delivered crude to Philadelphia and New Jersey refineries–may be recognizable to vintage science-fiction fans for its movie theater in the film “The Blob,” which marked the acting debut of film tough guy Steve McQueen and also showcased an early music-scoring effort of 1960s composer Burt Bacharach. (The diner in the film near the theater was actually sited in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles southwest of Phoenixville.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhyRpvgm03g

Big Inch and Little Big Inch were under the control of the WEP until early 1946–several months after the war ended. After that, they were to be sold under the federal war surplus property disposal program. Texas Eastern Transmision Corp was incorporated in early 1947 to bid on purchasing the lines, and the company won them that year for $143 million. The lines were converted to carry natural gas for about a decade, after which Little Big was converted to a refined oil products line.

The “Big Inch and Little Big Inch” booklet was distributed by Texas Eastern, which later became TEPPCO; Enterprise Products Partners acquired TEPPCO in 2009.

Platts