DAPL expansion approved by Illinois regulators

The proposed Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) expansion has received regulatory approval in Illinois, setting the stage for more takeaway capacity for Bakken crude producers.

The Illinois Commerce Commission on 15 September granted Dakota Access and Energy Transfer Crude Oil permission to install several pumping stations in the state, deeming an expansion of DAPL to be in the public need.

The decision effectively allows DAPL's capacity to rise to 1.1mn b/d from 750,000 b/d.

The expansion would not require the building of new pipelines nor construction on the existing line that stretches from the Bakken fields in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois.

The expansion would further connect refiners to the prolific Bakken formation that has crude production of about 1.2mn b/d. Once at Patoka, Bakken crude can then be shipped to the US Gulf coast via the connecting Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline (ETCOP).

DAPL and ETCOP are collectively referred to as the Bakken Pipeline.

Now approved are the installation of pumping stations in Hancock County and Massac County along with the replacement of pumps in Patoka where DAPL ends and ETCOP starts.

Illinois Commerce Commission had initially signed off on the pumping stations in 2020, but a coalition of landowners and environmental groups successfully appealed that decision. An Illinois appellate court in April this year mandated the commission review the case and make another decision.

By Brett Holmes