Enbridge to phase out shipments of sour crude from North Dakota

BISMARCK, N.D. - Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. says eliminating the practice of shipping "sour" crude - oil that's high in sulfur and more difficult to refine than low- or no-sulfur "sweet" crude - will allow it to more than double by early 2013 the amount of sweet crude it will be able to ship from the Bakken and underlying Three Forks formation.

"It is an end of an age," said Kesley Myhre, a company spokeswoman in Minot. "But it also is something that is very exciting for the industry and our state."

Enbridge since 1962 has shipped North Dakota sour crude, which typically flows more slowly through a pipeline that the sweet variety, but it's a minor part of the state's crude mix now.

Myhre said sour crude accounts for fewer than 5,000 of the 161,500 barrels Enbridge moves daily on its North Dakota mainline, which runs from the western part of the state through Minot and to the company's terminal at Clearbrook, Minn.

By cutting heavier sour crude out of its mainline in North Dakota, Enbridge expects to add 23,500 barrels of sweet crude from the Bakken and Three Forks, Myhre said. There also will be no interruption of the pipeline's flow to segregate shipments of sour crude and sweet, she said.

ONEOK plans multi-million dollar NGL pipeline in U.S. West

SIDNEY, Mont. - ONEOK Partners has announced plans to build a multi-million dollar natural gas liquids pipeline through the region.

Representatives of the Tulsa, Okla.-based company have been on the road in eastern Montana and Wyoming visiting with county commissioners and area leaders about the upcoming $430-$500 million project.

The 500-mile Bakken Pipeline, starting near Sidney and traveling south through Wyoming into northern Colorado, will transport raw, unfractionated natural gas liquids from natural gas processing plants in the Bakken Shale play to the company's 50-percent owned existing Overland Pass Pipeline which travels to Kansas where natural gas liquids are processed.

"We’re in the real early stages of this process," Brad Borror, supervisor of external communications, said on a recent trip to Sidney to visit with Richland County commissioners.

ONEOK, doing business as Bear Paw Energy, has already notified affected landowners for surveying properties, and it's looking into purchasing private access for constructing the pipeline. In addition to the Bakken Pipeline, ONEOK is building three new gas plants in North Dakota. The move amounts to a significant financial impact for the MonDak region.

"When it’s all said and done," Borror said, "we’ll be investing approximately $1.5 billion in your region, including this pipeline."

Company officials have to conduct a number of studies focusing on local wildlife, water and soil conditions in order select a route that protects and preserves environmental and cultural resources. Additionally, building the pipeline requires construction approval from federal and state agencies.