The Seaway Twin crude oil pipeline shipped initial volumes on Dec. 21 to the Jonas Creek terminal near Freeport, Texas, according to an operations notice filed on Wednesday by Seaway Crude Pipeline Co LLC. The process of line filling the 512-mile Seaway Loop pipeline, known as the Seaway Twin, has been completed, said the company, a joint venture of Enterprise Products Partners LP and Enbridge Inc. The completion of the pipeline more than doubles capacity of the Seaway Pipeline System between Cushing, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast to over 850,000 barrels per day (bpd). The Seaway Twin completion follows the Dec. 1 start up of its 600,000-bpd Flanagan South crude oil pipeline. Flanagan runs from Illinois to the Cushing oil storage hub. Cushing is the delivery point for the U.S. light sweet crude contract traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). “It puts more crude into the Houston area, which is also a clearing zone for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude from Midland (Texas), but my thought is that most of this will be heavy crude coming from Flanagan South,” said a New York-based broker. Several cash crude brokers said any immediate price reaction would be muted as traders were aware the line was being filled ahead of being made operational, but that it could apply pressure to West Texas sour and WTI at Midland. WTI is the benchmark crude for the NYMEX U.S. light sweet crude contract. “It puts pressure on all the domestic grades and makes nice blends available now,” said Texas-based cash crude broker.