Still in the News: Enbridge Will No Longer Ship Sour Crude -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

This information has been previously posted at this site, but it's still a news story in some parts of North Dakota.

The Grand Forks Herald is reporting that Enbridge will soon stop shipping sour crude in its pipelines. (The link will be broken soon; regional newspaper.)

The only company still shipping sour crude on a North Dakota pipeline is halting the practice next month to make way for a higher quality and more plentiful crude from the state's booming oil patch.

Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge Inc. says eliminating the practice of shipping “sour” crude — oil that's high in sulfur and more difficult to refine than low- or no-sulfur “sweet” crude — will allow it to more than double by early 2013 the amount of sweet crude it will be able to ship from the Bakken and underlying Three Forks formation.

That's not entirely correct, at least not how I understand it. Simply shifting to only sweet crude would not result in doubling capacity for sweet crude. Enbridge is doubling the amount of pipeline in its system over the next couple of years.

Other data points from the article:

Currently, about 5,000 bbls of 160,000 barrels is sour crude that moves through the Enbridge system on a daily basis in its North Dakota's mainline

• Enbridge will add about 24,000 bopd of sweet crude once the change is made
• The line runs from North Dakota to Clearbook, Minnesota
• The decision will mostly affect oil produced from fields along the Canadian border, between the towns of Bowbells and Bottineau; it will affect the Spearfish formation
• Sour crude will be trucked to Canada; trucking adds $1 to $3 per bbl in cost; pipeline adds 50 cents to $1.50 per bbl
• North Dakota has pipeline capacity of 340,000 bopd; an additional 100,000 bopd by train
• North Dakota is producing about 350,000 bopd
• Enbridge plans to expand its network by an additional 330,000 bopd at a cost of $370 million
• The Enbridge system from western North Dakota ends at Clearbrook, Minnesota