October 2019, Vol. 246, No. 10
Global News
Nice Try, But No Surcharge
After striking out on its U.S. Commerce Department request for exemption from steel tariffs, Plains All American tried a new approach this year – and promptly whiffed again. Houston-based Plains told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) it planned to tack on a 5 cent-per-barrel fee for users of its new 670,000-bpd Cactus II crude oil pipeline to offset the Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on imported steel. But Plains came back with a filing to remove the surcharge after ConocoPhillips and a unit of Canada’s Encana Corp. asked FERC to reject the surcharge. Plains had already made clear that it would rebate the fee to shippers if the Commerce Department approved its exemption

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