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.
