Aux Sable Midstream (ASM) plans to build a natural gas liquid (NGL) truck unloading facility at its Palermo Conditioning Plant in Palermo, ND to serve growing production of NGL-rich gas from the Bakken Shale.

The facility is to have an initial capacity of 5,000 b/d. NGL mix will be injected into the Palermo Plant/Prairie Rose Pipeline system for delivery and processing at Aux Sable’s Channahon, IL, processing facility. This truck unloading facility is expected to be operational in April and could be expanded to handle 10,000 b/d.

The recent acquisition of the Palermo Conditioning Plant and the Prairie Rose Pipeline allows Aux Sable to serve producers in the Bakken area. The Palermo Plant will be able to accept higher ethane-content NGL mixes, is within a modest trucking distance of most field processing plants in the Bakken area and will avoid truck-to-rail transload congestion or delays, Aux Sable said.

“The new NGL truck unloading facility and the utilization of these existing midstream assets provide a very operationally effective and value-competitive solution for Bakken gas processors/producers that have had to invest in field extraction facilities to manage their NGL-rich gas production. Post April 2012, Aux Sable will be positioned to handle NGL-rich gas delivered through several gas gathering systems as well as NGL mixes by truck.” said Aux Sable CEO Bill McAdam.

Earlier this year Enbridge Inc. and Veresen Inc. said they planned to construct a pipeline lateral from a Hess Corp. gas processing facility in Tioga, ND, to the Alliance Pipeline LP mainline near Sherwood, ND. Gas transported along the Tioga lateral would be transported along the Alliance mainline to the Aux Sable Liquid Products processing facilities in Channahon for conversion to NGLs and delivery to the Chicago market hub (see Shale Daily, Sept. 29).