Anschutz Exploration Corp. has exited the Bakken Shale play after closing the sale of its remaining operated and nonoperated oil and gas producing properties in the Williston Basin, including undeveloped acreage, to an undisclosed Canadian oil company for $115 million. The deal comes less than a year after the company sold 180,000 net acres to Oxy USA in December 2010 for $1.4 billion.

Musket Corp. has begun construction on plans to expand its crude-by-rail facility in Dore, ND in the Bakken Shale. Once completed in 1Q2012, the facility will have a total outbound capacity of 70,000 b/d, supplying crude oil to the Gulf Coast, West Coast and Midontinent. Musket also signed a long-term deal for Banner Pipeline Co. to deliver crude oil to the facility.

Plains All American Pipeline LP plans to double the rail capacity at its terminals in Patoka, IL, and St. James, LA. The company had 1,395 railcars in its system at the end of 2010. The Patoka terminal is located on the Mississippi River and is used as a barging point by some refiners. Meanwhile, the St. James terminal is a major facility on the Louisiana coast.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. will acquire a working interest in oil and gas leases and 191 wells on approximately 15,500 gross acres in the Williston Basin from a privately held company for $57 million. Gross production from the properties is about 833 boe/d, and total proved reserves are estimated to be about 2.6 MMboe. Magnum Hunter already owns an approximate 47% interest in the properties, and upon closing will have an approximate 95% interest. The company hopes to close the deal by Aug. 18.