Enbridge Pipeline Future Plans - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Enbridge Pipeline Future Plans

The Enbridge success story is one members of the company are happy to tell.

With success comes opportunity for growth.

Growth is certainly in the not so distant future for the crude oil production company.

Gary Brode tells us how just how large the 50 year old company plans to get.

Enbridge Pipelines is expanding, in a big way. With the Bakken Expansion Program, plans to significantly increase production are weeks and in some cases, days a way. Currently the crude production company delivers around 275,000 barrels out of state per day. One expansion plan is a new 16" pipeline from Beaver Lodge to Berthold. The line will add 120,000 barrels of crude oil per day. But plans do not stop there.

(Katie Haarsager, Community Relations Advisor) "Once that additional capacity comes align and then the addition of our rail facilities 80,000 barrels per day in March. Enbridge's export capacity between rail and pipeline will be about 475,000 barrels per day."

The Berthold Station Haarsager refers to is Enbridge's rail facility which began production in September of 2012. The expansion program looks to increase production 800% starting any day now. Despite the companies expansion in rail transportation, the future is still believed to be pipelines.

(Katie Haarsager, Community Relations Advisor) "We definitely foresee pipelines still being needed in the long term. They are still the safest, most efficient way to transport crude. We'll continue to work on all of our projects and make sure we have the ability to transport it that way."

That statement is backed up by Enbridge's most recent plans to increase their pipeline production by over 55%.

(Katie Haarsager, Community Relations Advisor) "We're looking at a project called Sandpiper that could potentially deliver another 225,000 barrels per day of export capacity out of this state. Sandpiper would be looking at about a 600 mile pipeline from the Tioga Beaver Lodge Station into Superior, Wisconsin."

This expansion project is still in preliminary development but is being targeted for a 2015 or 2016 opening.

Gary Brode, KX News.