09-04-2012

ONEOK Partners to build a crude-oil pipeline from Bakken Shale to Cushing, Oklahoma

ONEOK Partners, L.P. today announced plans to invest $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion between now and 2015 to build a 1,300-mile crude-oil pipeline with the capacity to transport 200,000 barrels per day (bpd). The Bakken Crude Express Pipeline will transport light-sweet crude oil from the Bakken Shale in the Williston Basin in North Dakota to the Cushing, Okla., crude-oil market hub.

"As producers continue to aggressively develop crude oil from wells in the Bakken Shale, more crude-oil pipeline takeaway capacity will be required," said Terry K. Spencer, ONEOK Partners president. "This proposed pipeline will provide producers with efficient and reliable transportation of their product directly to one of the largest crude-oil market hubs in the U.S."

"It also represents our entry into the crude-oil transportation business and utilizes our existing core capabilities of transporting and storing natural gas, natural gas liquids and refined petroleum products," he said. "Many of the supply commitments under negotiation are with the same producers in the Williston Basin that we currently serve."

Supply commitments for the proposed pipeline are in various stages of negotiation. Following receipt of all necessary permits and compliance with customary regulatory requirements, construction is expected to begin in late 2013 or early 2014 and be completed by early 2015. Based on supply commitments prior to construction, the capacity can be increased.

Additionally, the proposed pipeline route will be well-positioned to transport crude-oil production from the Niobrara Shale. 

The proposed pipeline route is expected to parallel more than 80 percent of the partnership's existing and planned natural gas liquids pipelines. It will be designed, constructed and operated using proven technology, pipeline control systems and continuous safety monitoring.

The partnership has previously announced that it is investing $2.8 billion to $3.5 billion through 2014 in growth projects. Of these projects, it is investing $1.6 billion to $2 billion in projects related to the Bakken Shale that include the 500-mile NGL pipeline, the Bakken Pipeline; a 270-mile natural gas gathering system and related infrastructure in Divide County, N.D.; and three 100 MMcf/d natural gas processing facilities – Garden Creek plant, Stateline I plant and Stateline II plant -- and related infrastructure. The Garden Creek plant went into service in December 2011.

Additionally, the partnership has a $1 billion-plus backlog of unannounced growth projects that will be announced when sufficient supply commitments are completed.