BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The head of the natural gas company that developed the Dakota Access Pipeline is hoping to soon announce an expansion of the project.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren met with U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and other energy industry leaders this week in Bismarck. Warren said he hopes to announce a pipeline expansion but didn’t mention a timeline, the Bismarck Tribune reported .
Dakota Access transports Bakken crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois and carries an average 500,000 barrels per day. The potential expansion would increase the pipeline up to 570,000 barrels per day, said ETP spokeswoman Vicki Granado.
Conditions of Dakota Access’ permit through the North Dakota Public Service Commission would allow the pipeline to ship up to 600,000 barrels per day in North Dakota. Companies can expand a pipeline’s capacity by adding more pumping horsepower or using drag-reducing agents that allow the flow of more oil, said Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.
The pipeline was part of months-long protests because it crosses Lake Oahe north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. To cross the lake, Dakota Access required an easement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is still studying the pipeline’s environmental impacts more than a year after the pipeline began operating.
Dakota Access connects with the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline, which transports oil from Illinois to Texas.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com