An expansion of natural gas plant liquids pipeline capacity will support growth in natural gas output in the Bakken Shale region in North Dakota, reduce flaring and improve recovery of high-value natural gas plant liquids, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its latest "Natural Gas Weekly Update" released Feb. 1.
In January, OneOk announced plans to build the 900-mile, 240,000 bbl/d Elk Creek Pipeline to flow Bakken natural gas plant liquids from eastern Montana to Bushton, Kan., which serves as a midcontinent hub with significant infrastructure to store, fractionate and transport natural gas plant liquids to the consuming regions of the Midwest or to the petrochemical and export facilities along the Gulf Coast. Scheduled for completion in 2019, the proposed pipeline project is expected to enable Bakken producers to boost natural gas production while reducing flaring.
Robust growth in crude oil production and increased output of natural gas per barrel of oil produced in 2017 have driven a resurgence in natural gas production in the Bakken Shale following a period of slow to stagnant growth in 2015 and 2016, according to the EIA. To accommodate rising gas production and comply with North Dakota's increasingly stringent restrictions on gas flaring, gas processing capacity in the state has been expanded from slightly less than 500 MMcf/d at the close of 2010 to over 2 Bcf/d at the end of 2016, the agency said, citing data from the North Dakota Pipeline Authority. Gas processing capacity is expected to grow by another 700 MMcf/d in 2019.
North Dakota accounts for most of the natural gas plant liquids produced in the Minnesota-Wisconsin-North Dakota-South Dakota refining district, which reached 241,000 bbl/d in August 2017. Yet, there are only two pipelines that move natural gas plant liquids out of the state. Pembina Pipeline Corp.'s Vantage Pipeline transports roughly 40,000 bbl/d of ethane to Canada and ONEOK Inc.'s 135,000-bbl/d Bakken NGL Pipeline transports mixed natural gas plant liquids to Colorado and is said to be operating at full capacity.
Capacity constraints on existing pipelines have curtailed production of natural gas plant liquids in North Dakota and indirectly hindered the processing of higher quantities of natural gas, resulting in increased gas flaring and the rejection of ethane into natural gas pipelines, the EIA said.
