Alliance Pipeline Ltd. has completed its 80-mile Tioga Lateral Pipeline in western North Dakota, connecting a Hess Corp. natural gas processing facility near Tioga, ND, with ties to the Alliance mainline near Sherwood, ND.

Hess is the anchor shipper for the 12-inch diameter pipeline, which has the capability to move 126 MMcf/d of rich natural gas, Alliance said. Alliance previously entered into a precedent agreement with Hess to transport 61,500 Mcf/d for a term of 10 years (see Daily GPI, Sept. 21, 2012).

Construction of the $170 million project was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in September 2012; construction began a month later (see Daily GPI, Oct. 11, 2012).

Gas transported by the lateral is produced in association with oil production throughout the Williston Basin — “gas that might otherwise be flared or vented into the atmosphere when sufficient infrastructure is unavailable” — according to Alliance, which is owned equally by Enbridge Income Fund and Veresen Inc.

“The Tioga Lateral meets an important customer’s need for rich gas transportation and offers other Williston Basin producers the same opportunity to safely and reliably move their gas and NGLs [natural gas liquids] to premium downstream markets via the Chicago hub, including connectivity to the Aux Sable world-scale NGL fractionation facility,” said Alliance CEO Terrance Kutryk.

The U.S. portion of the 2,300-mile Alliance Pipeline consists of about 900 miles of mainline and related facilities. The system has been in commercial service since late 2000 and delivers, on average, about 1.6 Bcf/d of natural gas.