Bakken Shale

With the backdrop of a state pipeline summit convened by North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Tuesday, Enterprise Products Partners LP announced its intention of building a 1,200-mile oil pipeline from the prolific Bakken Shale play to the market hub at Cushing, OK.

With mandated gas capture plans and better long-range communications with midstream processing/gathering system operators, North Dakota’s full-court press to greatly cut the percentage of associated gas flared at the wellhead is taking on a new life.

The oil/natural gas industry-supported independent chemical disclosure website FracFocus (www.fracfocus.org) was alternately praised and criticized by state officials in California and North Dakota on Tuesday during separate news media conference calls.

Crude oil by rail transportation continues on its robust path in North Dakota, tied closely to the spread between Brent and WTI prices, but natural gas-by-rail shipment is still just a concept being explored by some of the U.S. railroads, according to Justin Kringstad, director at the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, which keeps track of oil/natural gas transportation.

As anticipated for months, North Dakota finally cracked the magic 1 million bbl mark for daily crude oil production in April, joining an elite list of oil-producing states and nations, according to state officials Tuesday who released the most recent production totals for oil and natural gas. Records keep being set with regularity.

Waltham, MA-based Global Partners LP made public on Wednesday an agreement with a unit of Summit Midstream Partners LLC to expand its takeaway capacity for Bakken crude oil for marketing on the East and West Coasts. It is part of the $300 million in North Dakota investments planned by Summit (see Shale Daily, June 10).

Triangle Petroleum Corp. said Monday it tripled quarterly production in the latest quarter and grew its oilfield and midstream businesses, all while it prepares to complete two agreements this month to acquire more than 46,000 net acres in the Williston Basin.

Privately held, Dallas-based Summit Midstream Partners LLC on Tuesday outlined $300 million in new investments in its gathering operations related to the Bakken Shale play in North Dakota. Four new investments related to separate operating units will support expansion activities.

State lawmakers and the governor in California are continuing to raise concerns about the steep increase in rail crude oil shipments into the state (see Shale Daily, May 6). They each are pushing for beefed-up safety programs that the industry thinks are unnecessary.