DAPL Capacity To Nearly Double -- Bismarck Tribune -- June 21, 2019

"Nearly double." Say what? From "more than 500,000 bopd to as much as 1.1 million bopd." 

A huge thanks to the reader for catching this, sending it my way.

This is quite incredible. This one pipeline -- the "black snake" -- could pretty much transport all current oil produced by North Dakota. 

From The Bismarck Tribune:

The operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline is planning to nearly double its capacity, to a point where it could transport nearly all of the daily oil production of the nation’s No. 2 producer. The plans include new pumping stations in three states.

Energy Transfer Partners informed North Dakota regulators that it plans to expand the pipeline capacity from more than 500,000 barrels per day to as much as 1.1 million barrels.

The "black snake" becomes the "black anaconda."

Bakken Pipeline Analysis -- Update -- Oil & Gas Journal

Updates

March 3, 2014: the WSJ had an almost identical article. It seems I've read it before; I don't know. Regardless, here is the WSJ article -- rail trumps pipeline in North Dakota. 

Original Post

This is a very, very good analysis of the Bakken pipeline, sent in by a reader. It is at The Oil & Gas Journal and may require a log-in. If it does and you don't have a subscription, take a phrase and google it. It's a very, very good page to save to your computer for archival purposes if interested in this stuff. Some data points:

More than 760,000 b/d, or 71%, of Williston basin production is leaving North Dakota by rail. This number dipped slightly as the WTI-Brent spread narrowed, but the spread between North Dakota light sweet and Brent was still wide enough to warrant prudent crude-by-rail shipments.

The majority of crude oil moving by rail within the US and Canada is from the Bakken. EPRINC estimates that of the 1.4-million b/d of crude oil and petroleum products moving via rail in the US alone, roughly 900,000 b/d is crude oil. Of the 700,000 b/d of crude oil and petroleum product moving via rail in Canada, about 160,000 b/d is crude oil. Together, 1-million b/d of crude is moving via rail in the US and Canada, 780,000 b/d of which is Bakken crude.

An additional 100,000 b/d is likely moving from other plays within the US (the Niobrara and Anadarko formations). Roughly 160,000 b/d is moving out of Canada to refineries within Canada, along the US East Coast, and increasingly to the Gulf Coast. And roughly 600,000 b/d of ethanol bound for the gasoline supply is also moved via rail.

Canadian railroads have not moved as quickly as US railroads to accommodate growing, discounted production in their backyard. Origin terminals are being planned and rapidly built in Canada, but only a few sites are currently available to unload and process heavy bitumen via rail. The most likely method for shipping bitumen via rail would be heated cars, avoiding diluent or condensate use, each of which add cost. Without the diluent, however, proper unloading of the rail cars requires heating, which in turn requires the necessary infrastructure at the unloading facility.

The story includes several graphics and spreadsheets. A very good source, again, for those interested in this stuff.

To Parallel State Highway 22, Killdeer To Dickinson; 16-Inch Crude Oil Pipeline; Would Connect Into Entire South Half Of Bakken Oil Patch

Updates

January 1, 2014: approved.

December 29, 2013: a reader provides the link and additional insight regarding this proposed pipeline. The site: the Bakken Oil Express.

The reader notes:

It appears the pipeline will have access to at least two other pipelines plus an additional one-half million barrels of rail transfer (in the works, maybe done).

Local folks noted two 30,000-bbl storage tanks being built two miles west of Killdeer, just north of the highway a couple of months ago. The pipeline story had not yet been reported.

It appears the capacity of the pipeline will be about 15% of what North Dakota will be producing by the time the pipeline is fully operational.

Currently the Hawkinson pad requires trucks to take out the oil (note: three Hawkinson wells have already produced a cumulative of over one million bbls of oil). BurlingtonResources also has a number of pad wells coming on line just to the east of Hawkinson.

In the graphic note the proliferation of wells in the region where this new pipeline will originate, two miles west of Killdeer. Apparently the oil from the highly successful Hawkinson pad is being trucked out. The Burlington Resources wells in Corral Creek are tracked here.

Later, 6:42 p.m. Pacific Time: a reader writes -- at google satellite views one can see activity two miles west of Killdeer that most likely is where this pipeline begins. I've checked it out and there appears to be a significant amount of industrial activity two miles west of Killdeer, on the north side of the highway.

Original Post

Sometimes I become "immune" to all the news coming out of the Bakken. When Don sent me this article earlier this morning, I thought, "another pipeline story."

But for whatever reason, I looked at some of the data points regarding this proposed pipeline which, if approved, should be in service in early 2014.

• $14 million 
• 38 miles long
• from Killdeer to Dickinson
• 16-inch pipeline, 165,000 bopd (the Keystone XL: 36-inch; 830,000 bopd)
• would transport oil from a 60-mile radius centered on Killdeer
• estimate: eliminate 825 tanker trucks per day
• a Bakken Oil Express pipeline

A 16-inch pipeline is huge. I think it rivals the size of some urban water mains.

This is particularly intriguing:

The 16-inch-diameter line would store (sic) oil collected from wells in about a 60-mile radius around Killdeer.

A 60-mile radius with Killdeer at the center. To the south, Dickinson is thirty miles distant; to the east, 60 miles takes one outside the Bakken; to the west, it is almost exactly 60 miles to the Montana state line; and to the northwest, 60 miles almost takes one to Williston (65 miles as the crow flies). In other words, the pipeline could service the entire southern half of the Bakken.

There is a map at the link.  This is quite intriguing. The pipeline will end in the immediate vicinity of the CBR terminal, but even more interesting, this pipeline will end in the immediate vicinity of the new MDU-Calumet refinery.

At least that's how I see it. I may be misreading something, but the link will take you to source.

Post script: Don, after doing some calculations, that based on the size of this pipe, the cost to build it, and, the area it will affect, suggests the builder expects this pipeline to be moving oil for at least 40 to 50 years.