Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), a Dallas based natural gas and propane company, has received permission from state officials in North Dakota to construct a large crude terminal near Watford City, North Dakota, one of six planned in the state for the proposed 1134 mile Dakota Access Oil Pipeline.
The pipeline would move oil from the Bakken formation through South Dakota and Iowa to a terminal in Patoka, Illinois, for distribution to refineries in eastern states. ETP wants it operating by the end of 2016. It still needs federal and state permits, along with easements from private landowners along the proposed pipeline route to access their land.
Energy Transfer Partners is already developing another Bakken pipeline project that will convert segments of a 30-inch existing natural gas line, known as Trunkline, to crude oil transport.
The Trunkline conversion project is designed to take up to 420,000 barrels-per-day Bakken and Canadian crude from Patoka, Illinois to Boyce, Louisiana.