Oil Infrastructure Update

The North Dakota Pipeline Authority recently published "North Dakota's Oil Transportation Infrastructure", which updates progress being made primarily in pipeline and rail transport. Some excerpts...

-- The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources periodically updates a comprehensive state oil production forecast that includes all producing formations, including the Bakken and Three Forks. The most recent forecast indicates that oil production may reach 450,000 to 700,000 BOPD within the next 3-7 years. Coupled with increasing interest in the Bakken and Three Forks formations in Eastern Montana, the United States portion of the Williston Basin could potentially be producing 550,000-800,000 BOPD between 2015-2020. This anticipated growth has kept industry busy working to come up with solutions to move these never before seen volumes of oil.

-- It can be noted that pipeline capacity is not expected to keep pace with production until early 2013, leaving incremental volumes to find alternative transportation methods, primarily rail.

-- The combination of pipeline and rail transportation that has evolved in North Dakota over the past two years has shown a great deal of creativity and ingenuity on the part of industry. At least in the near term, the challenges of moving crude oil out of the Williston Basin that have plagued the region over the past several years have been alleviated. With increasing efficiencies in drilling and completion, the current debate is how high oil production in the Williston Basin will be in the coming years.

The document, which includes numerous charts and graphs, is available here.