Dakota Access Pipeline operator plans large capacity expansion

The operator of the Dakota Access Pipeline is planning to nearly double its capacity, to a point where it could transport nearly all of the daily oil production of the nation’s No. 2 producer. The plans include new pumping stations in three states.

Energy Transfer Partners informed North Dakota regulators that it plans to expand the pipeline capacity from more than 500,000 barrels per day to as much as 1.1 million barrels.

An increase “will allow Dakota Access to meet the growing demand from shippers by optimizing and fully utilizing the existing pipeline infrastructure, without the need to install new pipelines, and without the need for shippers to use less safe and efficient means of transportation, such as rail," Energy Transfer attorney Lawrence Bender said in a letter to the Public Service Commission dated Wednesday.

North Dakota produced 1.39 million barrels of oil per day in April. The record was 1.4 million barrels per day in January.

Read more: https://bismarcktribune.com/business/dakota-access-pipeline-operator-plans-large-capacity-expansion/article_a3de339a-3dc1-5f55-97fa-0dc200874502.html

Cross-posted in the Environment & Energy Group.