The Good Stories Never Quit: New NG Facility -- Watford City

Bear Paw Energy, a subsidiary of ONEOK Partners, LP, anticipates construction to begin this month on a $150 million to $175 million natural gas processing project near Watford City. The facility would be capable of handling 100 million cubic feet per day and could be fully operational by the end of December, 2011. [Update, October 15, 2010: ground has been broken; the project is underway. The link to the source will probably be broken in a few weeks.]

This is another indication that the current boom is expected to last awhile. Folks aren't going to build a $175 million facility if they thought the Bakken was a short-lived phenomenon.

Interestingly enough, Investopedia has another story on ONEOK Partners, LP:

One major player on the infrastructure and processing side of the natural gas liquids market is Oneok Partners. Oneok Partners operates 549,000 barrels per day of fractionation capacity in the United States. The company has seen its volumes increase sharply over the last five years, from 313,000 barrels per day in 2006 to an estimated 529,000 barrels per day in 2010.


Oneok Partners is investing to add transport capacity in natural gas liquids, and plans to spend as much as $550 million to build a 525 mile natural gas liquids pipeline with a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day. The pipeline will be complete by 2013.

This is really quite phenomenal. Something tells me the restaurant at the First International Bank and Trust is going to get real busy real soon. This is my favorite restaurant in Watford City, and where I generally go to have dinner when eating in Watford.

Updates

October 28, 2010: project on hold. Public Service Commission wants to make sure all environmental and agricultural issues are addressed before approving.