Energy Transfer LP (ET) has launched another open season to test support for crude shipments from the Bakken/Three Forks formation to Texas.

Subsidiaries Dakota Access LLC and Energy Transfer Crude Oil Co. LLC have begun soliciting open-ended bids for the Bakken Pipeline System. The 1,915-mile, 30-inch diameter line transports crude produced in the Bakken/Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to a storage and terminal hub outside Patoka, IL, and to additional terminals in Nederland, TX.

Nederland is part of the Golden Triangle that makes up a refinery/petrochemical complex east of Houston between Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange.

ET held a previous open season for capacity on the Bakken system in March 2018. It had secured commitments for about 520,000 b/d when it initially went into service in June 2017.

The potential capacity expansion tracks recent moves of other midstream companies seeking to increase crude transportation infrastructure.

As TC Energy Corp.’s Keystone XL stalls in regulatory gridlock, companies are seeking alternative ways to ferry more crude from Canada and the northern part of the United States to Gulf Coast markets.

Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline LP recently launched open seasons for two projects to increase crude shipping capacity from Canada and the Rockies to the Gulf Coast.

Plains proposed to expand its Western Canadian Corridor Pipeline system, which currently consists of more than 1,000 miles of pipeline that extends from Cutbank, MT, near the U.S.-Canadian border to Guernsey, WY. From there, various interconnections with third-party pipelines can ferry the crude to the Gulf Coast.