The Bakken -- It Just Never Quits -- December 23, 2017

The item is very short:

WBI Energy Transmission Inc. filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a new section of pipeline to boost transportation capacity to the company's interconnect with Northern Border Pipeline Co. in western North Dakota.

The project would include 12 miles of 24-inch-diameter steel pipeline that would begin at the Spring Creek meter station and end at the Cherry Creek valve setting. The company said it has precedent agreements with Oasis Petroleum Marketing LLC and ONEOK Rockies Midstream LLC for 196,000 Dth/d and 10,000 Dth/d of incremental firm transportation service, respectively.

That was it. My comments/observations:

• huge, huge pipe: 2 feet in diameter -- think about that next time you see pipeline (water, natural gas, sewer, whatever) -- a 2-foot diameter pipe is one huge pipe
• total ND natural gas production: 2,000,000 or 2 million mcf/d 
• 206,000Dth/d = 200,000 mcf/d
• 200,000 / 2,000,000 = 1% -- one percent
• if my figures are correct, this pipeline will move about 1% of all the North Dakota natural gas produced in one day
• the connector is 12 miles; at $1 million / mile = $12 million dollars

This is pretty cool. If you are remotely interested in this project or just want to have some fun looking at FERC documents and maps of North Dakota, simply click on this http://www.wbienergy.com/docs/default-source/demicks-lake-ferc/wbi-demicks-lake-draft-resources-report-10.pdf?sfvrsn=4. A PDF will probably download on your desktop.

It downloads incredibly quickly suggesting it's in the cloud. It will download faster on a cloudy day.

I don't know how long the Bakken will last or how important the Bakken will be in the big scheme of things. All I know is that "they" aren't putting in 12 miles of 2-foot-diameter pipeline for upwards of $15 million for a one-year science project. Art Berman can say it's the "beginning of the end" for the Bakken and The Atlantic can say the boom is over and oilprice can say that US shale is not the answer and yada, yada, yada, but without question there's a lot going on in four little counties in western North Dakota, providing a lot of high-paying jobs for a long, long time, and for the most part not upsetting the gods to any significant extent -- at least the volcanoes in western North Dakota are not erupting, suggesting the gods can't be too mad at "us."