Spot Bakken Weakens; Enbridge Restarted Line 81 Into Clearbrook; Weakened By Almost $1; Differential Now Almost $5.00

Bloomberg is reporting:

Bakken oil on the spot market weakened after Enbridge Inc. restarted the pipeline that takes the crude to its pricing point in Minnesota from fields in North Dakota and Montana.

Enbridge Inc. restarted Line 81, which can carry as much as 210,000 barrels a day into Clearbrook, Minnesota, on May 4, said Larry Springer, a Houston-based spokesman for the company. Enbridge shut the line May 2 after crews discovered contaminated soil near the pipe in North Dakota during an integrity inspection.

Bakken oil in Clearbrook weakened by 75 cents to $4.75 a barrel below West Texas Intermediate in Cushing, Oklahoma, at 12:07 p.m., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s the widest discount for the crude since Jan. 14.

Bakken production in North Dakota increased 6.2 percent to 715,150 barrels a day in February, according to the state Industrial Commission. The Enbridge line is the only pipeline out of the Bakken region. About 71 percent of crude production from the formation left North Dakota by train in February, according to the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.

Go to the link for additional information.

In addition, this link to Clearbrook News will provide more background to this story.  From a May 3, 2013, Bloomberg article regarding the closure of Line 81:

The Enbridge North Dakota system runs from Plentywood, Montana, to Clearbrook, and the capacity of the main section from Minot, North Dakota, to Clearbrook is 210,000 barrels a day, according to Enbridge’s website.

“What a world we live in, that 10 gallons can close a 210,000-barrel-a-day pipeline, but I guess these days they take a lot of precautions,” said Andrew Lebow, a senior vice president at Jefferies Bache LLC in New York. “This should not be a long-lasting event.”