Kringstad

With oil and natural gas production growing at a record-setting pace, North Dakota officials are closely tracking industry plans for pipeline takeaway infrastructure that at the end of 2018 included natural gas liquids (NGL) and oil projects, along with processing plants and a refinery.

In the heart of the prolific Bakken Shale in the far northwest corner of North Dakota, a unit of Kinder Morgan Inc. is pursuing a natural gas pipeline link between existing compression and gathering infrastructure that may offer compelling economic benefits despite the system’s relatively small scale.

With continued emphasis on drilling in the more natural gas-prone Bakken Shale core, demand for gas takeaway capacity will keep growing, according to Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.

Pipelines have passed rail tank cars as the preferred means of shipping Bakken oil from North Dakota to markets on the three U.S. coasts, according to statistics released Friday.

When oil production was on a steep curve upward over the past five years, North Dakota oil/natural gas officials, like the industry they oversee, were working hard to keep up with the unparalleled growth. Today, they are working just as hard to figure out what the current pullback in that growth means longer term.

When oil production was on a steep curve upward over the past five years, North Dakota oil/natural gas officials, like the industry they oversee, were working hard to keep up with the unparalleled growth. Today, they are working just as hard to figure out what the current pullback in that growth means longer term.

The multi-billion-dollar Sandpiper Pipeline addition from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota to multiple market connecting points in Minnesota appears to have enough shipper interest to move forward, North Dakota Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad said Thursday.

With crude oil production and natural gas flaring on a record-setting pace in the Bakken Shale, North Dakota and industry officials welcomed a new gas pipeline link, but pipelines are only part of the problem.