Takeaway Capacity Still A Challenge for the Bakken

Looking back on all the talk during the past two years about adequate takeaway capacity in the Bakken appears, in hindsight, to have been a huge misreading by everyone, not least of which was NDIC. I blogged often that NDIC said there would be adequate takeaway capacity. That is clearly not the case and is costing mineral owners (and operators) a huge amount of money.

Outside interests are concerned about profits going up in flames (flaring) when, in fact, that's the least of the mineral owners' issues. If there is one factor  that is costing mineral owners monthly income, it would be related to the lack of takeaway capacity. Flaring is a non-issue.

And now there is yet another story reminding us that takeaway capacity will continue to be a problem in the Bakken. Link here to Rigzone.com.

US tight oil producers already face challenges in economically getting their high-quality crude to refineries, and transportation logistics will need to be addressed more fully as production grows, experts at an Apr. 3 Washington conference agreed.

Some Bakken shale producers already ship their crude by rail to Louisiana to get a price closer to North Sea Brent than to West Texas Intermediate, Hill Vaden, a senior US upstream research analyst at Wood Mackenzie Ltd., told the conference cosponsored by the US Association for Energy Economics National Capital Area Chapter and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

I suggested a way to address the problem but ....