Page 6 ■ Thursday, March 1, 2012


BAKKEN NEWS Diesel refi nery in the works


By JESSICA HOLDMAN Bismarck Tribune


partner up with another business to build a diesel refi nery in southwest North Da- kota.


The company is looking at sites near Dickinson and Richardton, said Rick Matteson, MDU Resources communica- tions director. It hopes to have the nearly $500 million facility operating in 2014. WBI Holdings Inc., owned by MDU


MDU Resources Group Inc. wants to


ardton and Belfi eld. After permitting, the refi nery will take 24 months to build, Matteson said. The low sulfur sweet crude oil produced in the Bakken oil fi eld will allow 40 to 50 percent of each barrel to be processed into diesel. Some of the oil processed at the fa- cility will be provided by MDU Resources’ oil and natural gas production company, Fidelity. The facility will produce 20,000 barrels per day. “It’s on the small side but not tiny,”


Resources, and Calumet Refi ning LLC, owned by Indiana-based Calumet Spe- cialty Products Partners, L.P., have signed a letter of intent to explore opportunities for opening the facility. “This project will capitalize on the capabilities and expertise of two strong companies to develop a facility that will serve demand for diesel by agriculture and industry in the rapidly developing Bakken play,” MDU Resources Chief Ex- ecutive Offi cer Terry Hildestad said in a statement. Permitting and marketing and engi-


neering studies have begun. The company has looked at property on both the east and west sides of Dickinson near Inter- state 94 and the railroad between Rich-


said Todd Borgmann, Calumet business analyst. The companies will sell the diesel pri-


the area,” Matteson said. “The demand is defi nitely outgrowing the supply.” The remainder of the crude oil will be


marily in the Bakken region. “There is growing demand for diesel in


shipped to other Calumet facilities to be further refi ned into such products as gas- oline, solvents, lubricants or feedstock for the chemical manufacturing industry. MDU’s construction company will help build the facility and its utilities com- panies will provide the power necessary to run it. (Reach reporter Jessica Holdman at 701- 250-8261 or jessica.holdman@bismarcktri- bune.com.)


Potash mining project in ND stalls


By DALE WETZEL Associated Press


A company that has been explor- ing the potential for potash mining in North Dakota said the test results weren’t as promising as hoped and it will focus instead on a project in Eng- land. Potash is used for soil fertilizer.


Potash mining is a major industry in Canada’s Saskatchewan province, which borders the region where Da- kota Salts LLC has been prospecting in North Dakota. The company drilled a test well in


late 2010 east of Lignite, a community about 90 miles northwest of Minot in Burke County. The drilling permit was the fi rst the state had issued in 34 years, according to the North Dakota Geological Survey. News of the test well and Dakota


Salts’ leasing of more than 16,000 acres for possible mining spurred the North Dakota Legislature to approve a new 2 percent tax on potash produc- tion last year. But Don Dickie, a senior geolo-


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gist for Dakota Salts’ parent company, Sirius Minerals PLC of London, said the North Dakota potash deposits are “not on the front burner” of the com- pany’s plans. “We had expectations that we


would be able to (fi nd) a thick, high- grade potash deposit similar to what you would see in Saskatchewan,” Dickie told The Associated Press. “Our results were not up to that level.” J.T. Starzecki, a senior manager for


the company’s U.S. operations, said it’s looking at information from the test well and other drilling data from Burke County to determine what best to do next.


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ing more expensive holes, we wanted to have more method to the madness, and ensure we had the right steps in place,” Starzecki said. Meanwhile, Sirius is concentrating


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its efforts on what Starzecki called a “massive” potash deposit in Yorkshire, in north England. On its website, Sir- ius describes that project as the com- pany’s “main development asset.” Ted Hawbaker of Portal, a critic of the Legislature’s efforts to tax and


regulate potash mining, said the land where test drilling was done hasn’t yet been restored to its original condition, even though drilling ceased about a year ago. The site is “a mess” and the state


Industrial Commission, which grant- ed the drilling permit, hasn’t done anything about it, Hawbaker told a North Dakota legislative committee studying potash taxation. “There’s plastic, there’s junk all


over. It hasn’t been cleaned up,” Haw- baker said. “It sits there just as they left it.”


Ed Murphy, North Dakota’s state


geologist, said Dakota Salts would re- store the site this spring. The work will include fi lling in waste disposal pits and removing a short gravel road that provided access to the site, he said. Janet Cron, Burke County’s tax di-


rector, said company offi cials haven’t met with the county commission to discuss the project or what they might do in the future. “I think communication is a little


lacking,” Cron said. “They have nev- er been up to Burke County and sat down with our commissioners. I fi nd that, really, not very nice.” Starzecki said Dakota Salts tried


unsuccessfully to arrange a meet- ing with county commissioners. The company also held town meetings to answer residents’ questions before the test well was drilled, he said. “We’ve always been accessible to


anybody that has questions or con- cerns,” he said. Potash demand — highest in


China, where the fertilizer helps grow rice, fruits and vegetables — has been recovering from a slump that coincid- ed with the recession, according to the International Fertilizer Industry Asso- ciation, a trade group based in Paris. The association forecasts potash de- mand growing by 20 percent by 2015, with production expanding at an even faster pace. Saskatchewan accounts for about


30 percent of the world’s potash pro- duction, according to the Canadian Fertilizer Institute, an Ottawa-based organization that represents manu- facturers. Potash is used in the United States to raise corn.


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