(Updates with detail on tariff filing, 2nd paragraph)
By Selam Gebrekidan
NEW YORK, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell onTuesday moved closer to shipping a glut of light sweet oil fromTexas to Louisiana after it filed tariffs for itsHouston-to-Houma pipeline reversal with federal regulators.
In one of the filings, Shell requested a one-day notice to"notify our shippers that this line segment is now operationaland nominations for the transportation movements are beingaccepted."
The tariffs will come into effect on Thursday.
"The reversed Ho-Ho line is on schedule to be operational bythe end of the year," Shell spokeswoman Destin Singleton said inan email.
The pipeline is expected to help relieve a supply bottleneckthat is emerging in the Houston area as crude oil from U.S.shale fields floods the Gulf Coast. It will bring oil from thePermian Basin in West Texas, the Eagle Ford shale oil play inSouth Texas and growing supplies from Cushing to Louisianarefineries.
The Ho-Ho reversal project includes a 200,000barrels-per-day pipeline that will run from Houston to PortNeches, Texas, a 360,000 bpd line from Port Neches to Houma,Louisiana, a 500,000 bpd line from Houma to the LouisianaOffshore Oil Port (LOOP) hub in Clovelly, Louisiana and a300,000 bpd line from Houma to St. James, Louisiana.
The company shut an existing pipeline, which initially ranfrom Houma to Houston, in August to complete the reversal. (Reporting by Selam Gebrekidan; Editing by Meredith Mazzilliand Grant McCool)
