Dakota oil pipeline expansion to start this month

The 570,000 b/d Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) will be expanded by 180,000 b/d this month, adding takeaway out of the Bakken shale, one of the pipeline owners said today.

The Bakken optimization project "continues to progress with the next phase of incremental capacity commencing service in August," Phillips 66 Partners said. The DAPL capacity will increase to 750,000 b/d.

Energy Transfer, the majority owner and operator of DAPL, has said previously that it plans to expand the line to as much as 1.1mn b/d by adding pump stations. Energy Transfer will hold an earnings call later today. Other partners in the Bakken system include Enbridge and Marathon Petroleum's midstream affiliate, MPLX.

The expansion will include the entire Bakken system which includes DAPL from the Bakken shale to Patoka, Illinois, and the connecting Energy Transfer Crude Oil pipeline (ETCOP) to the US Gulf coast. The expansion does not require any construction on the mainline or building new pipeline segments.

The increased capacity is supported by minimum volume commitments from long-term contracts, Phillips 66 Partners said.

A US judge last month closed out a long-running lawsuit that sought to halt operations of DAPL, two months after ruling the pipeline could remain in service while the government prepares a new environmental review.

US district court judge James Boasberg dismissed the rest of a lawsuit filed by Native American tribes led by the Standing Rock Sioux who oppose the pipeline. The order brought an end to a high-profile case that attracted national attention because of its potential to shut a major conduit of Bakken crude to the US midcontinent and Gulf coast.

The initial startup of DAPL was delayed for months in 2016 and 2017 amid large protests and regulatory delays. Since its startup in June 2017, the line has been expanded amid record-high North Dakota production prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

By Eunice Bridges