Friday, May 3, 2019

Making North Dakota Great -- MDU To Add One-Half Billion Cubic Feet/Day Natural Gas Pipeline Capacity In The Bakken -- May 3, 2019

From Natural Gas Intelligence:
In the next three years, locally based utility and construction holding company MDU Resources Group plans to add more than 500 MMcf/d of natural gas capacity, with four pipeline projects serving the Bakken Shale in North Dakota.
The article did not provide additional information -- at least that I could find.

It should be noted that earlier this year, January 25, 2019, MDU announced another natural gas pipeline to add as much as 375 million cfpd. See this post

I do not know if Natural Gas Intelligence is aggregated data from earlier press releases; if it includes the 375 million cfpd at the linked post, of if this is "new" activity/capacity.

MDU 1Q19 earnings transcript here. The pipeline projects mentioned there:
  • additional capacity with these two projects: 200 million cubic feet per day
    • Demicks Lake project, McKenzie County, began construction, April, 2019: 
    • Line Section 22 project near Billings, MT; began construction, May, 2019:
  • North Bakken Expansion Project, to begin in 2021; initially 200 million cfpd; expand to 375 million cfpd
  • Demicks Lake Expansion Project, to begin later this year; 175 million cfpd
The "375" + "175" = 550.

500 million cubic feet per had of natural gas converts to about 80,000 boepd.

4 comments:

  1. (based on reading the links) Seems like they are all just local projects. Not expanded gas transport out of the region.

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    1. That was my impression, also, except for perhaps a Hess expansion into Canada. But yet, a lot of local local projects. In the big scheme of things, it certainly appears there more than enough pipeline interstate if the projects were approved and under construction. My hunch is we're going to see a lot of intra-state activity, not only in North Dakota, but also in Texas (some regional activity -- New Mexico - Texas - Louisiana).

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    2. They are going to need more transport out of the region eventually.

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    3. The good news: if they don't get the needed pipeline, they can put up a "cracker" in North Dakota to handle the natural gas.

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