A month and a half after it announced a proposed 245-mile Grassland Pipeline Project from Wyoming to North Dakota, Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of MDU Resources Group, filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for expeditious treatment of its plan to construct the $65-75 million project.

The 16-inch pipe would start 15 miles north of Gillette, WY, and terminate just south of Killdeer, ND, where it would interconnect with the Northern Border Pipeline. Currently, the pipeline is planned to have a capacity of 80-120 MMcf/d. With added compression, a spokesman said the line could reach 200 MMcf/d.

Calling the project a “single purpose pipeline,” the spokesman said Grassland would transport coal-bed methane gas from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming to the Northern Borders pipe, which in turn would deliver the gas to Midwest markets. “There is a lot of gas in the Powder River Basin,” the Williston spokesman noted. “With all of the coalbed methane development, there just is not enough capacity to get it out of this region.”

Williston Basin has 30 days to hold three public meetings along the pipeline to gather information and address the public’s questions. The exact route has not been determined, but the pipeline is expected to be operational by late 2002 or early 2003. The company reported in late September that it already has a number of customers signed up (see NGI, Oct. 1).

However, the Grassland project is not alone. The Rimrock and the Bison pipelines (see NGI, Nov. 6, 2000), both greenfield projects, are still proposed in the same area. Northern Border’s 325-mile Bison Pipeline would transport from between 375,000 and 500,000 MMBtu/d of production from Gillette, WY to McCabe, MT.

The Rimrock Pipeline, to be built by Michigan-based Everest Energy and Major Pipeline Co., would involve a multi-phase construction period. The principal interconnect and the eastern terminus of Rimrock would be the Landeck Station at the Thunder Creek Pipeline, located northwest of Gillette. The western terminus would be located near the edge of the Big Horn Mountains.

Tim Rasmussen, spokesman for Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline, said that he believes that production from the region can make all three proposed pipelines viable. “I think the capacity is desperately needed out of that Powder River Basin,” said Rasmussen. “There is enough production on the drawing board for the Powder River Basin that the capacity is needed. That is what we are hearing from the people [producers] that we are talking to.”

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