About Lakehead

Line 6B is a 30-inch, 283,000 barrels per day (bpd) line transporting light synthetics, heavy and medium crude oil from Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ontario. It is part of the Partnership's Lakehead System.

The 1,900-mile Lakehead System is the U.S. portion of the world's longest petroleum pipeline and has operated for more than 60 years. The system is the primary transporter of crude oil from Western Canada to the United States, spanning from the international border near Neche, N.D., to the international border near Marysville, Mich., with an extension across the Niagara River into the Buffalo, N.Y., area. It consists of approximately 4,700 miles of pipe with diameters ranging from 12 to 48 inches; 60 pump station locations; and 66 crude oil storage tanks with a capacity of about 12.1 million barrels.

The Lakehead System serves all the major refining centers in the Great Lakes, Midwest and Ontario, Canada, and through its connection with the affiliated Canadian pipeline, this system has increasing access to refineries in the Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast. Approximately 68 percent of western Canadian crude oil exports to the United Sates in 2009 were shipped via the Lakehead System. Total deliveries on the Lakehead System averaged 1.65 million bpd in 2009, meeting approximately 75 percent of Minnesota refinery capacity; 70 percent of the refinery capacity in the greater Chicago area; and 77 percent of Ontario's refinery demand.