Natural Gas Liquids Pipeline Approved For North Dakota -- May 1, 2018

Data points from The Bismarck Tribune:

• Oneok
• Cherry Creek Pipeline project
• the conversion of natural gas gathering lines into a natural gas liquids transmission pipeline
• about 45 miles of pipeline conversion
• only $1.8 million; will involve very little construction
• capacity: 50,000 bbls of natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Lonesome Creek gas processing plant in McKenzie County to the Stateline gas processing plant in Williams County
• will deliver NGLs into the Bakken Pipeline

ND NGLs:

• currently, more than 400,000 bpd
• of that, 40,000 to 60,000 bpd transported by rail due to pipeline shortage
• by 2035: North Dakota NGL production is expected to come close to one million bpd
• since it runs under the Missouri River, it will require a US Army Corps of Engineers permit revision

Also:

• Oneok is developing the Elk Creek Pipeline
• a 900-mile pipeline for NGLs
• will transport NGLs from Sidney, MT, to Bushton, KS
• the pipeline begins in Sidney, MT, but transports Bakken NGLs
• scheduled for completion by 4Q19

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NGLs

From the "FAQ Page," regarding NGLs:

58. Oil is generally "measured" in barrels (bbls). Is the volume of natural gas liquid (NGL) ("wet" natural gas) also expressed in bbls? No, NGLs are generally expressed in gallons, according to a comment sent in by a chemical engineer.  Incidentally, some think the "additional" "b" comes from "blue barrels." From RBN Energy:

There’s one more aspect of NGL markets that must have been designed to confuse outsiders, because it certainly does.  NGL quantities are quoted in barrels.  NGL prices are quoted in gallons.  Really.  So I’ll sell you 10,000 barrels of non-TET normal butane for $1.36 per gallon.  It never occurs to NGL people to convert either the quantity to gallons or the price to a per barrel number.  They think of everything multiplied by or divided by 42.  Go figure.  And BTW, propane retail people do think in gallons - but that’s another story.

59. What is meant by natural gas liquids? RBN provides a great primer on natural gas liquids, or wet natural gas. Briefly: Natural Gasoline  - C5s; Normal Butane – NC4, Isobutane  - IC4. From the linked RBN post:

NGLs are sometimes referred to by the number of carbon atoms in their molecules.   Yes, even traders with no engineering background do this.  It makes you part of the secret NGL society.  Ethane’s chemical formula is C2H6, meaning that it has two carbon atoms and 6 hydrogen atoms, and in the market it is called C2.  Propane’s formula is C3H8, and it is called C3.  Butanes are a little more complicated and it is best that we not get into the molecular chemistry here to explain it (for me and for you).  Suffice to say that normal butane is called NC4 and isobutane IC4.  Finally natural gasoline is called C5 (even though natural gasoline contains C5 plus a lot of C6 and greater).   The more carbon atoms in a hydrocarbon molecule, the heavier it is.  So in the market, butanes and natural gasoline are called  ‘heavies’ or ‘heavy ends’.  Ethane and propane are  ‘lights’ or ‘light ends’.   Using these semi-technical terms keep others from understanding what NGL people are talking about, which of course is the objective.

59a. Butane, one of the two natural gas liquids that is also known as LPG (liquefied petroleum gas; the other being propane). In the U.S. context, we are generally referring to normal butane, that product used in U.S. markets primarily as a motor gasoline blending component, and to a much lesser extent as a petrochemical feedstock.

59b. How much NGL is North Dakota producing? A lot. 400,000 bpd in 2018; expected to increase to about 1 million bpd by 2035. See this post.