Another Crude Oil Loading Rail Terminal -- COLT -- $100 Million Investment in Williams County -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Rangeland: The COLT Hub and COLT Connector terminal and pipeline.

The link. The first open-access oil marketing hub in North Dakota.

This really is incredible. This company, which I had never heard of before, and probably is new to North Dakota, is going to invest $100 million in Williams County. Williston, the heart of the Bakken, and the eponymous name for the basin, is the county seat. To put $100 million in perspective: Williston set a city record this year in building permits, surpassing $100 million. The previous record was $44 million set in 2009. It is an understatement to say this is huge, but there is so much happening in the Bakken it is hard to keep up, much less quantify what is happening. I can only imagine all the blue-collar construction workers that will be needed to execute this investment.


COLT Hub and COLT Pipeline

Operational by December 2011

COLT Connector Pipeline

20-mile; 40,000 barrel/day; Williams County
Connects existing collecting site 8 miles south of Tioga to new COLT Hub near Epping, ND

COLT Hub

On-site storage; scalable
Initially two 90,000 bbl tanks; one 30,000 bbl tank = 210,000 bbl on-site storage

Railway

BNSF
Will load both unit train and manifest shipment of oil
Market: US markets, including along the Gulf Coast
Capacity: 60,000 b/d railcar loading facilities

Miscellaneous note: Warren Buffett owns BNSF