Bakken Pipeline
The Bakken Expansion Project
North Dakota (ND), Saskatchewan (SK) and Montana have recently seen tremendous growth in the development of oil, gas and natural gas liquids from the Bakken Shale deposits. Capacity on Enbridge’s Williston Basin feeder pipelines is being expanded to accommodate much of the growth in production. The Bakken deposits are estimated to hold just under 5 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil. Further, the Three Forks play, located underneath the Bakken shale, is thought to be the next natural step in the development of this prolific region. Crude production from this area has increased by approximately 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) over the last two years. Enbridge’s Williston Basin Feeder pipelines have completed 107,000 bpd of expansions with an additional 61,000 bpd of expansions scheduled to be completed in 2010. To address the further potential for growth, Enbridge is exploring additional expansion opportunities beyond these levels in order to provide timely and cost effective transportation for up to an additional 115,000 bpd.
One such option is the Portal Reversal Expansion Project. Re-activation and reversal of the existing Portal Link line from Berthold, ND to Steelman, SK will allow Bakken crude to access Enbridge’s Mainline at Cromer, and is the next logical step in the development of pipeline capacity to service this prolific area. Once at Cromer, the Bakken crude can access refineries connected via the Enbridge mainline system including refineries located in: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, the Cushing hub, Kentucky, and Ontario.
Enbridge is currently finalizing the Bakkan Expansion project and will be talking to potential shippers to gather input and support for the expansion.