NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Plains All American's

crude oil pipelines linking the Permian shale basin to the

Corpus Christi export hub in Texas are facing quality issues

related to high mercaptans, or naturally-occurring sulfur

compounds, according to sources familiar with the matter and a

notice seen by Reuters.

Starting October 1, Plains will charge a half-dollar fee on

every barrel that fails to meet mercaptan specifications on some

of its pipelines in the Gulf Coast region, according to a notice

to shippers seen by Reuters and two of the sources.

The sources requested anonymity to discuss confidential

information. Plains did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.

The quality issues could force Gulf Coast refiners,

especially those in the Corpus Christi region in South Texas, to

seek alternatives for the Midland crude oil produced in the

Permian and delivered by the impacted Plains pipelines, one of

the sources said.

Plains is still trying to identify the cause of the

contamination, so it is too early to tell if the issues will

impact U.S. crude exports, one of the sources said. Over 2

million bpd of crude oil is exported from Corpus Christi,

according to the port's website.

Plains owns interests in a number of long-haul pipelines

that move about 2.1 million bpd of crude oil out of the Permian

Basin to Corpus Christi and to the Cushing, Oklahoma storage

hub, according to its public filings.