Dakota Access Oil Pipeline Back To Spotlight As Battle Over Expansion Starts

The company owning the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe resumed a long-standing regulatory battle this week, after North Dakota’s regulators began hearings on whether Dakota Access’s owner Energy Transfer should be allowed to double the pipeline’s capacity. North Dakota Public Service Commission started hearings on Wednesday on whether to allow Energy Transfer to build pump stations in North Dakota in order to boost the pipeline capacity, and both the company and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe weighed in on the issue. The commission is expected to come to a decision at a later date. Energy Transfer, whose original Dakota Access pipeline began operations in 2017, plans to double the oil flow capacity of the pipeline to 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) from the current 570,000 bpd to meet rising production from the Bakken. Even after Dakota Access entered into service, the Bakken shale play started to see at the end of 2018 all pipelines full to capacity again, leading to hefty discounts of the oil from the Bakken compared to WTI. Energy Transfer argues that “Optimizing capacity will enable further development in the Bakken, which means more jobs and economic benefits for local communities.”...MORE