The Bakken Pipeline system includes the Dakota Access Pipeline and will transport oil from North Dakota’s Bakken range through South Dakota and Iowa to a tank farm in Patoka, Ill. The pipeline should be in service by the end of 2016. This puts the delayed Sandpiper pipeline in northern Minnesota in doubt as Enbridge has now has another route to move crude out of North Dakota.
Environmentalists have jammed the Sandpiper pipeline in the Minnesota regulatory process for almost 3 years, delaying construction at least until 2019. Enbridge has formed a joint venture with Marathon Petroleum to buy a stake in the Bakken Pipeline System. Marathon has been a key partner in Sandpiper, with plans to finance 37 percent of the pipeline and become one of its major customers.
“Enbridge continues to believe the Bakken region is a highly productive and attractive basin, which has significant crude oil supply growth potential that will require additional pipeline capacity in the future,” the company said in a press statement. “The scope and timing of the Sandpiper Pipeline Project will be evaluated during the quarter to ensure that it is positioned to meet the growing need for pipeline capacity.”
Enbridge and Marathon have bought a stake in a company that owns 75 percent of Bakken Pipeline System, which also includes a pipeline from southern Illinois to the Texas Gulf Coast. Enbridge is receiving an effective 27.6 percent interest in the Bakken Pipeline
Source: The Star Tribune