Free Republic

Environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, have raised concerns that the pipeline could foul underground and surface water supplies, increase air pollution around refineries and harm wildlife. They also have speculated about what they consider inadequate pipeline safety and emergency spill responses….. Supporters say the project could be a boon for U.S. jobs and energy production while strengthening a friendly source of oil.

Energy Transport: New data show fast-rising rail shipments from North Dakota's Bakken shale formation and the need for a safer alternative to rail — like the Keystone XL pipeline. In his post-election press conference, the president noted in justifying his continual kicking of the Keystone XL oil drum down the road that "while this debate about Canadian oil has been raging ... we've seen some of the biggest increases in American oil production and natural gas production in our history." That increase is due in large part to oil recovered from the Bakken shale formation centered on North Dakota. So...

Even as it fills the railroads of the Upper Midwest with oil tank cars, the Bakken has allowed its natural gas riches to languish. Less profitable than oil and more difficult to transport, natural gas has been so secondary in North Dakota that drillers still burn off more than a fourth of what rises from the ground. In satellite pictures, the flames sprawl across the Williston basin, lighting it up like a giant suburb. A quiet transformation is underway, however, as the state bids to turn natural gas into a native business and drive down flaring. A growing network of...

$75 dollars a barrel – that’s the price crude oil would have to hit for frackers in North Dakota’s Bakken fields to feel pressure to slow new production, according to Greg Zuckerman, author of “The Frackers” and a special reporter at the Wall Street Journal. “All these guys have hedged. They’ve got production [and] they’ve already got the acreage. They’re not gonna stop but maybe they’ll kind of slow new stuff.” Fracking in other parts of the country, though, is likely to be much more resilient. In Texas’s Eagle Ford and Permian basin, Zuckerman says oil prices would have to...

A month after implementing new rules regarding the flaring of natural gas, the state of North Dakota was near compliance with the new limits as oil and gas production companies in the Bakken work to reduce flaring, according to the United States Department of Energy (DOE). In August, 28 percent of North Dakota’s natural gas was flared, the state reported. That was near North Dakota’s flare-rate goal of 26 percent in 4Q 2014, despite an increase in oil production in the Bakken in August, according to the website Bakken.com. Following criticism from royalty holders regarding extensive flaring that made North...

BNSF Railway Co. plans to apply a $1,000 surcharge for each older tank car that hauls oil, as the railroad owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. encourages shippers to scrap the puncture-prone cars. The charge, which will take effect Jan. 1, will add about $1.50 per barrel to the cost of shipping oil across the country. It’s the first surcharge announced by a major U.S. railroad for older cars known as DOT-111s, and won’t apply to cars called CPC-1232s that are built to higher standards adopted in October 2011, according to a BNSF notice. The Obama administration in July...

The rate of North Dakota oil trains crossing Minnesota got another working over yesterday. At KMSP-TV, Tim Blotz says, “Bakken oil now rolls through Minnesota at a rate of more than 15 trains a day, but on a rail system that has limited space, other critical freight — including grain, Taconite, and propane — is often left off track. Rep. Joe Atkins, of Inver Grove Heights, described the issue as ‘a growing crisis’ at a packed legislative hearing. Even so, it's not a simple blame game. … The troubles for Amtrak aren't just the delays, but the length of them....

North Dakota’s natural gas production rose nearly 40 million cubic feet per day in July, a 3 percent increase, and the state’s gas capture also rose, increasing from 72 percent in June to 74 percent in July indicating that the industry’s efforts to capture more gas are working. However, those are cumulative statistics with some operators capturing more than 74 percent and others capturing less as drilling activity continuing to rise. The state’s Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms said the industry “will have to work very hard” in order to meet the upcoming requirements set by the North...

The workers sometimes come in with stacks of $100 bills, their jeans and boots still covered in oil field mud as they scour the glass jewelry counter looking for clean sparkle. One oil field worker plopped down $25,000 for a diamond for his girlfriend back home. Many others settle on $1,000 necklace pendants in the shape of a tiny oil derrick, a diamond anchoring the bottom where the oil would be. “These guys spend lots of money on their women, and there’s plenty of money to be spent,” said Gina Abfalter, a clerk at Ritter Brothers Diamond Cutters downtown. “A...

North Dakota Republicans on Wednesday unveiled an $800 million one-time spending plan to address immediate problems tied to the oil boom in the western part of the state.... The proposal includes $475 million to oil-producing counties and cities; $140 million to oil patch hub cities of Williston, Dickinson and Minot; $35 million to county schools affected by oil development; and $150 million for road projects outside of the oil patch.... Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said infrastructure needs and a shortage of workers are the biggest challenges facing North Dakota’s energy sector. The state has more...

Business is booming in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale oilfields. With that boom comes a need for infrastructure. More than half of the oil out of the Bakken leaves by train or truck. But companies are working on pipelines. One proposed pipeline would cut clear through the state of Iowa. A Texas company wants to build an 1,100 mile crude oil pipeline, from the northwest corner of the state to the southeast. In two years, the pipeline could be carrying up to 320,000 barrels a day, from the Bakken Shale Oil Fields, to Patoka Illinois, and from there, the oil would...

With the release of the latest oil production data for the Bakken in North Dakota, this tight oil play reached a new record of 975,000 barrels per day in May.  This represents an increase of almost 37,000 barrels per day from the previous month, and is the largest April-May increase on record.  Daily oil per well remains stable at 127 barrels, down only slightly from the May 2013 value of 130. Overall production for North Dakota was also up in May to a new record of 1.04 million barrels per day, with daily oil per well steady at 99 barrels....

Why the Amazing Bakken Growth Story Isn't Over Yet By Callum Turcan | More Articles July 4, 2014 | Comments (0) As many energy investors know, North Dakota's oil production recently surpassed 1 million barrels a day. Does this mean that the growth story is now over and all the best locations have been drilled, or, as downspacing allows oil and gas companies to target the Three-Forks benches just below the Middle Bakken interval, is the growth story still underway? Only time will tell, but Oasis Petroleum (NYSE: OAS  ) is one E&P player trying to shake things up by targeting the deeper...

Statoil ASA recently announced a container system to reduce flaring in the Bakken. The company’s timing could not have been better, considering that North Dakota just approved new flaring regulations. More restrictive regulations covering flaring on existing wells were passed by the North Dakota Industrial Commission – the state’s regulating entity for oil and gas – July 1. The goal of the commission is to reduce flaring to 26 percent by the fourth quarter of 2014, 23 percent by the first quarter of 2016, and 10 percent – with the potential of 5 percent – by the fourth quarter of...

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple is full of gratitude for pipeline infrastructure investments after tasking midstream companies two years ago to build pipelines, and build them quickly. Dalrymple hosted his second Governor’s Pipeline Summit in Bismarck on June 24, bringing together about 150 pipeline industry leaders, energy industry representatives and federal, state and local officials to share their response to the rapid construction of thousands of miles of pipelines to meet oil and gas industry demands. “There was a time a few years ago when we said we’re never going to have enough pipelines to deal with this boom,” Dalrymple...

U.S. crude production in April 2014 was 8.4 million barrels per day (bbl/d), with two states, Texas and North Dakota, accounting for nearly half of this total. Texas production topped 3.0 million bbl/d for the first time since the late 1970s, more than doubling production in the past three years, and North Dakota production broke 1.0 million bbl/d for the first time in history, nearly tripling its production over the same period, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Petroleum Supply Monthly report. Combined crude oil production volumes from Texas and North Dakota reached 4.0 million bbl/d. From...

North Dakota intends to nearly double its oil and gas pipeline capacity within two years as part of a plan to curb the wasteful flaring of natural gas in the bustling Bakken oil field, the state's governor said on Tuesday. Oil production in North Dakota has more than tripled in the past decade to 1 million barrels of oil equivalent (boepd) per day, making for the fastest-growing U.S. state economy. But state pipeline capacity has lagged. Governor Jack Dalrymple said the state wants to boost capacity to 1.4 million boepd by 2016 from about 780,000 boepd now. "We will reduce...

North Dakota has joined the big leagues of crude oil production, surpassing 1 million barrels per day — an output second only to Texas in the U.S. State officials said Tuesday that North Dakota yielded 1,001,149 barrels daily in April from a record 10,658 wells. Jubilant oil industry officials hailed the benchmark as another sign that the United States is freeing itself from the grip of foreign oil.

Crescent Point’s Torquay Discovery Reignites Southeast Saskatchewan. Just when you thought The Bakken couldn’t get any better—it does. Oil producers are now “cracking the code” on the Torquay, or Three Forks formation below the Bakken, and coming up with incredible economics—these wells are paying back in only seven months. This news has completely re-invigorated the Canadian side of the Bakken. And on the US side, the Three Forks is causing industry to leap-frog estimates of the amount of recoverable oil available–by about 57%! It’s hard to imagine that the #1 oil play in all of North America could have such...

North Dakota has joined the ranks of the few places in the world that produce more than a million barrels of oil per day, due in large part to the rich Bakken shale formation in the western part of the state. The April figures released Tuesday by the state’s Department of Mineral Resources showed the record tally. North Dakota had flirted with the million-barrel-per-day mark for months, but the harsh winter slowed the pace. In March, production had hit 977,000 barrels per day. North Dakota’s oil fields now represent more than 12 percent of all U.S. oil production, and more...