Genesis Energy, which has headquarters in Houston, said it was soliciting interest for a crude oil pipeline that would run 70 miles through Wyoming.

The company said it was seeking shipper commitments for a 70-mile oil pipeline that would run from Casper, Wyo., to the Pronghorn rail facility in Douglas, Wyo.

Genesis Energy CEO Grant Sims said the proposed pipeline would give shippers additional options to transport crude oil by rail.

Pronghorn is the only regional facility serviced both by BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad.

"As Canadian [oil] volumes continue to increase over time, along with local production, Pronghorn is best positioned long‐term to provide shippers with the flexibility to load trains and facilitate the movement of these barrels directly to the most attractive markets," Sims said in a statement Monday.

An increase in North American crude oil production has strained existing pipeline capacity, forcing some energy companies to turn to rail as an alternate transit method. The safety of rail transport has come into question because of a series of derailments involving railcars carrying crude oil.

The solicitation period ends May 30. If there's enough interest, Genesis said the new pipeline could go into service by the middle of next year.

Statoil credits U.S. gas sales with Q1 profits
Stavanger, Norway (UPI) Apr 29, 2013 - A stake in the U.S. natural gas sector helped Norwegian energy company Statoil post a sizable profit for the first quarter, President Helge Lund said Tuesday.

Statoil's net operating income of $8.5 billion was a 35 percent increase from the same time last year. Adjusted earnings were up 9 percent to $7.6 billion.

"Higher prices and good results from our U.S. gas value chain contributed to a 9 percent increase in adjusted earnings, compared to same quarter last year," Lund said in a statement Tuesday.

The company was able to cash in on higher natural gas prices in North America. For production, however, the 1.97 billion barrels of oil equivalent per day during the first quarter was down 1 percent compared to the same period last year.

Statoil said it spent about $780 million on exploration during the first quarter, down 7 percent year-on-year.

Looking forward, the company said it would start development from the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea in multiple phases. The first phase is expected to produce 315,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from a field Statoil says is its largest development since the 1980s.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's regulator, said 1.52 million barrels of oil were produced from Norway last month, a 6 percent increase from the same time last year.