New Diesel Refinery Will Put Bakken Oil To Good Use - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

The first refinery of its kind to be built in nearly 40 years, will be built right here in North Dakota.

Today MDU Resources and Calumet Products announce plans for a joint refinery, which will bring jobs to the state and put more of the Bakken oil to use.

"We're going to take Bakken crude we believe at about 20,000 barrels a day," David Goodin said.

Construction will soon start on a diesel refinery four miles west of Dickinson, a refinery which will greatly benefit the state.

"It will increase the usage of Bakken Crude Oil right here in the state of North Dakota, it will be another significant supply of diesel fuel in North Dakota, for all of our farmers and truckers," Governor Jack Dalrymple said.

A refinery like this has been in the works for years.

Democratic Minority Leader, Kenton Onstad says, he's been working nearly six years to get something like this up and running in North Dakota.

"We showed that it was feasible, that the business plan would work, and North Dakota would receive some benefits, not only creating jobs, but North Dakota was going to get a lower price at the gas tank," Kenton Onstad said.

Because more diesel fuel will come from North Dakota, not from overseas.

"North Dakota consumes almost 53,000 barrels of diesel a day and this project will be part of that new supply source, because over half of that diesel is being imported today," Goodin said.

Something Onstad has been saying for years.

"And I'm just tickled pink that now they're taking some of that information that we've been trying to push for the last four years now here in the legislature to create incentives to do our own refining," Onstad said.

Refining which will bring 100 jobs to North Dakota, and put the Bakken oil to good use.

Construction on the new refinery is expected to begin this spring, and take about 20 months to complete.