Gas company proposes pipeline from Stanley to Towner
By JILL SCHRAMM, Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.comSTANLEY A natural gas company is proposing to build a pipeline that will open a new market and possibly improve the price for gas coming from the Bakken formation.
Pecan Pipeline (North Dakota) Inc. wants to construct Prairie Rose Pipeline from its processing plant near Stanley to an interconnection facility with Alliance Pipeline, about 20 miles northwest of Towner. The interconnection facility would come on-line in mid-2009.
Alliance Pipeline carries natural gas from Canada to Chicago. The interconnect will solve some of the energy export issues in North Dakota by enabling producers in the Bakken field to access the Chicago-area market, creating potential for a better price, said Tony Straquadine, manager of government affairs for Alliance in Minneapolis.
"It's a great opportunity," he said. "This will be the first interconnect or receipt of gas from the Bakken formation into Alliance Pipeline."
The amount of natural gas that will be added to the Alliance system will be a small part of total volume in the pipeline.
The natural gas will undergo less processing at Pecan's plant south of Stanley than the gas that the company currently is delivering from the plant to the Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved a revision to the Alliance Pipeline tariff that allows Alliance to accept gas that is higher in gaseous hydrocarbons from Pecan.
The gaseous hydrocarbons, such as butane, pentane and ethane, have higher value in the Chicago market. So it makes sense to wait to remove those hydrocarbons once in Chicago, Straquadine said.
Pecan, a subsidiary of EOG Resources Inc., doesn't consider the pipeline to fall under the technical definition of a transmission facility so is seeking to be excluded from state regulation. However, the North Dakota Public Service Commission is looking at the project as possibly being subject to its jurisdiction.
