—Pipeline company choices. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners took its Cochin pipeline out of service for several weeks starting in late November, cutting off the flow of Canadian propane to the Upper Midwestern at a critical time. That pipeline is being reversed later this year to carry fluids for diluting Canada's thick tar sands oil. The move will boost profits for Kinder Morgan, but also will permanently eliminate pipeline capacity that delivered 50,000 barrels per day of propane, including 40 percent of Minnesota's supplies. The company had said the line would remain in service until March. In addition, Enterprise Products Partners reversed one of its northbound pipelines, a change that forced more products to squeeze onto Enterprise's TE Products pipeline system (TEPPCO), which continued carrying products north from Texas. Propane shippers suddenly had to compete for space on that pipeline against products displaced by the Enterprise reversal. Shifting more deliveries to railcars was tough amid the crush of oil now also traveling by railroad. In early February, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered Enterprise to temporarily give propane priority on its TE Products pipeline to ease supply shortages in the Midwest and Northeast.