Bakken Shale

While it has deemphasized natural gas production, Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources Group is betting even bigger on oil/gas infrastructure centered in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale play in addition to its stable of four utilities spread over eight states.

Starting the year flush with a $350 million commitment from its backers at Riverstone Holdings LLC, Denver-based Liberty Resources II and a few other private backers on Thursday entered an agreement to buy 53,000 net acres in four counties in the Williston Basin, according to both companies. The purchase price was $455 million.

While continuing to cash in on the robust oil and natural growth in its home-based Bakken Shale play, Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources Group’s exploration/production (E&P) unit looks to expand elsewhere with its increased activity in Utah’s Paradox Basin and an as-yet-unspecified third major oil play.

A unit of Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources on Thursday launched an open season for a proposed $650 million natural gas transmission pipeline connecting plentiful Bakken Shale supplies to markets in the Great Lakes. Planning for the 375-mile pipeline is under way at MDU’s WBI Energy Inc.

The growing emphasis on shipping U.S. crude oil production by rail will continue and the oil sector welcomes tougher safety standards now being contemplated by the federal Department of Transportation (DOT), several oil executives said Wednesday during 4Q2013 earnings conference calls.

ConocoPhillips’ decision to sell its refinery arm and become a pure-play exploration and production (E&P) company proved its mettle in 2013, with higher output, stronger margins and solid cash flow, particularly in North America.

A North Dakota exploration and production (E&P) task force on Wednesday outlined plans to slash the amounts of associated, or flared, natural gas over the next six years to as little as 10% from the current levels of more than 30%.

Hess Corp. plans to spend $5.8 billion on capital expenditures (capex) in 2014, and will devote nearly half of that amount to developing its assets in the Bakken and Utica shales, with emphasis on the Bakken.

The three-member North Dakota Industrial Commission, including Gov. Jack Dalrymple, which oversees oil and natural gas operations in the state, on Wednesday directed commission staff to come up with mitigation plans to protect vulnerable areas from exploration and production (E&P) impacts.