Phillips 66 and Bridger Pipeline LLC have announced new Bakken pipeline plans that could create the second largest pipeline system in the Bakken and help move Bakken crude to Corpus Christi, Texas.
Through a joint open season for the proposed Liberty Pipeline, Bakken operators could have the option to move crude on a 350,000 barrel per day pipeline that could be in service by the end of 2020.
Currently, the Dakota Access Pipeline system is the largest pipeline takeaway option for Bakken producers. The DAPL system moves up to 570,000 bpd to locations that help bring the crude to Cushing, Oklahoma. The Liberty Pipeline would help bring Bakken crude to major export terminals and proposed hubs near Corpus Christi. For the past five years, Corpus Christi has been working to expand its oil export infrastructure to give shale oil producers more options to ship light oil sourced from places like the Bakken, Permian or Oklahoma a viable option to load, store and then ship on Very Large Crude Carriers from the Texas Gulf Coast to Europe, Asia and South America.
With the potential addition of the Liberty Pipeline, the Bakken would have enough takeaway pipeline capacity by the end of 2020 (in addition to a small presence of refining capacity in the region) to handle up to 1.8 million barrels of oil per day.
As of August, the North Dakota Pipeline Authority indicated North Dakota was producing roughly 1.3 mbpd and moving 73 percent of all oil via pipeline with rail, at 18 percent, coming in second. Refining made up six percent of the remainder with another three percent going towards oil trucked to Canada where it is then loaded onto pipelines.
