UPDATE 1-Statoil to build US shale crude shipping capacity

Reuters ^ | Oct 17, 2011 | Selam Gebrekidan

[thackney]

Norway's Statoil will build more crude shipping capacity in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana as part of its $4.4 billion bid for Austin-based Brigham Exploration a company executive said on Monday.

The Norwegian state oil company said it would build more shipping capacity, with a focus on pipelines, but did not commit itself to any specific pipeline project.

Analysts said that because of the deal's steep cost, the oil major will have to invest in infrastructure projects to recover some of its investment as it ramps up production.

Statoil is looking to enter the Bakken and Three Forks shale plays in North Dakota with its purchase of Brigham, a company that entered the race to unlock North Dakota's massive unconventional oil reserves in 2005.

The deal, announced on Monday, will buy the cash-rich international oil company a 275,000 net-acre shale frontier in North Dakota and 100,000 acres more in Montana, where output growth is outpacing existing capacity to move crude to refining hubs in the Gulf Coast and elsewhere.

Statoil plans to add more take-away capacity in the region, building on Brigham's $120 million-a-year investment in the past, according to Bill Maloney, Statoil North America Executive Vice President. Brigham had focused its efforts on building pipelines.

Analysts said it is in Statoil's interest to invest in additional infrastructure in the region to boost production and get oil to customers.

[thackney]

Whiting Petroleum awaits N Dakota ok for pipeline
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/13/whiting-nd-pipeline-idUSN1E79C0N220111013
Oct 13, 2011

Independent oil producer Whiting Petroleum Corp is awaiting state permission for construction of crude pipeline to replace trucks as a means of access to major crude markets for the growing amount of shale oil from its North Dakota Bakken fields, a state regulator said on Thursday.

An administrative law judge will likely make his recommendations about the permit to the North Dakota Public Service commission by the end of the week, the regulator said.

Construction of a more cost-effective seven-mile pipeline to connect field gathering systems would speed delivery to the pumping station the company is building in Belfield, North Dakota.

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[thackney]

Bakken ping

[Big Horn]

they are building pipelines all the time.It is the next Saudi Arabia.