Enterprise Products Partners is weighing a new, 340,000 b/d crude pipeline from the Bakken in North Dakota to Cushing, Oklahoma, with stops in the Mississippian, Denver-Julesberg basin and Powder River basin along the way.
The 1,200-mile pipeline is tentatively slated for startup in late 2016, but is dependent on shipper commitments, Enterprise said. The company was approached by potential shippers interested in new pipeline infrastructure in those areas, spokesman Rick Rainey said.
"What you've got is a pipeline that's going to hit different types of crude oil along the way before it gets to Cushing," Rainey said. The company is "very early on" in the process, he added. "Right now what we've got is a proposal. We have not made any definitive decisions one way or another."
Previous efforts by Oneok and Koch Pipeline to build long-haul pipelines from the Bakken have failed, though those projects did not offer service through the additional shale developments. Oneok proposed a line to Cushing, while Koch proposed service to Illinois, with a possible connection to St James, Louisiana.
Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) in March launched a binding open season for a pipeline from the Bakken to Nederland, Texas, and other destinations on the route. ETP has previously shopped around various uses for its Trunkline pipe from Illinois to the Gulf coast, which it is converting from gas to crude service. The company has not disclosed the results of the open season.
Enbridge has expanded its North Dakota system and plans to build another 230,000 b/d line, Sandpiper, from the Bakken to Minnesota and Wisconsin. US independent refiner Marathon Petroleum is an anchor shipper and minority owner on the line.
Shipper interest in pipelines in the oil-rich Bakken has been spotty amid the crude-by-rail boom, which still leads as the most popular form of transport for crude. The latest North Dakota data shows 63pc of the state's production moves by rail and 30pc by pipeline.
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