Another Black Snake -- July 23, 2017

This is pretty funny. Yesterday, this post: Natural gas from the Bakken hitting all-time records; another pipeline necessary?

Today, this story. Perhaps not another natural gas pipeline (yet) but a new refined products pipeline. Data points from The Dickinson Press:

• Cenex Pipeline LLC, a subsidiary of CHS
• will build a 180-mile pipeline from Sidney, MT, to Minot, ND
• will carry refined products such as gasoline and diesel fuel
• would replace a portion of an existing pipeline and add additional capacity
• needed to meet increased demand for refined fuels in the region
• back-of-the-envelope: 180 x 1 million = $180 million; Cenex estimates: $160 million
• pipeline will cross the Missouri River in Montana
• in North Dakota, will cross the Little Muddy, White Earth, Little Knife
• once all permits obtained, it will take about 18 months to complete
• entire Cenex Pipeline: Laurel, MT, to Fargo, ND
• most of the article was devoted to discussing how officials will work with Native Americans on this project

Many, many story lines, starting with the Dickinson refinery and MDU.

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Flashback

This was taken from an October 12, 2011, post:

The Bakken is the largest industrial park in the US -- not just the county. The entire Bakken is being defined as one huge industrial park; it is the second largest industrial park in North America -- the Canadian oil sands are #1.

The Houston area would be a similarly huge industrial park but perhaps in total geographical area, the Bakken in the western one-third of North Dakota is hard to beat, in terms of area.