The North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) has focused on several major oil pipeline projects critical to moving Bakken crude to market. The PSC early in the month flashed a green light for Hess Corp.’s Hawkeye crude oil project, including a 23-mile, 12-inch diameter line and conversion of 2.4 miles of 8-inch gas pipeline.
Overall, North Dakota’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), which oversees the bulk of the gas and oil gathering and salt water pipelines in the state, is expecting up to 3,000 miles of pipelines to be installed by the end of 2015, according to DMR Director Lynn Helms.
Hess currently operates five pipelines crossing Lake Sakakawea, which is the third largest man-made lake in the nation, stretching across part of the Missouri River basin and bordered by six counties, including North Dakota’s four largest oil/gas producing counties. Two pipelines date back to 1956, and the other three were built in 1992.
One of the 1992-vintage pipelines, which carries gas from the Tioga Gas Plant to Northern Border Pipeline, will be converted to oil service. Hess is proposing in its Hawkeye project to add an oil facility with storage tanks and truck unloading areas, three sets of PIG launchers and receivers, four emergency shut-off valves and two mainline valves.