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Thursday, March 15, 2012 ■ Covering the Williston Basin ■ Volume 2, Issue 11
CP Railway shipping ND crude from new terminal
By JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press
Canadian Pacifi c Railway Ltd. has be- gun shipping rich Bakken crude to the Gulf Coast from a rail-loading facility under construction in western North Dakota. Pasadena, Texas-based U.S. Develop-
ment Group LLC is building the termi- nal near the ghost town of Van Hook, about a dozen miles south of New Town in southern Mountrail County. Canadian Pacifi c spokesman Ed
Greenberg said the Calgary-based rail- road has been moving small shipments from the facility since last month. U.S. Development Group spokes-
woman Meg Martin said the facility, slated for completion this summer, will be able to load 30 unit trains per month. The mile-long unit trains typically con- sist of up to 104 rail cars, with each car containing about 650 barrels of crude. The company said the terminal’s initial capacity is about 35,000 gallons daily, or about half the capacity of a typical unit train.
disclosed. Martin said Canadian Pacifi c is the only railroad using the facility and most
Continued on page 8 The cost of the new terminal was not
Movin’ on up N. D. passes Calif. in oil production
By JAMES MacPHERSON Associated Press
fornia as the third-largest oil-producing state in the nation. Production totals released March 8 by
North Dakota has overtaken Cali-
both states show North Dakota pumped 16.9 million barrels of oil in January, compared with California’s 15.8 million barrels. North Dakota had a daily aver- age of 546,000 barrels, besting California by more than 36,000 barrels. Oil production data typically lags at
least two months. A record 152.9 million barrels of crude
was produced in North Dakota last year, up almost 40 million more barrels than the previous record set a year earlier, the state Industrial Commission said. North Dakota’s January oil produc- tion was up 11,000 barrels from Decem- ber. California’s January total slipped about 900,000 for the month, and nearly 37,000 barrels daily, records show. North Dakota had a record 6,600
wells producing in January, up about 200 from the previous month. California had more than 49,000 active wells, records show.
North Dakota’s oil patch on March 8. Bill Winkler, an engineering and re-
A record 205 rigs were drilling in
search manager with California’s Divi- sion of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Re- sources, said it was no surprise his state was surpassed by North Dakota in oil production. “North Dakota has been on the up-
sweep and we’ve been on the decline for quite a while,” Winkler said. “With all the
Chips could
clean an oil spill Spray-on coating causes wood chips to repel water and attract oil — 4
new production and drilling happening there, it was expected.” North Dakota’s oil production has
increased exponentially in the past de- cade with improved horizontal drilling techniques in the rich Bakken shale and Three Forks formations in the western part of the state. Ron Ness, president of the North Da-
kota Petroleum Council, said production milestones will continue, “if North Da- kota keeps encouraging a positive busi- ness climate.” North Dakota was the ninth-largest
behind Texas, pumped 18.3 million bar- rels in January, with a daily average of about 592,000 barrels, said Steve Mc- Mains, a statistician with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. North Dakota offi cials have estimated
Alaska, the nation’s No. 2 oil producer
16.9 million barrels of oil North Dakota produced in January 2012
oil-producing state in 2006, and sur- passed Louisiana in 2009 to take the No. 4 spot.
January 2012 daily average of barrels from North Dakota
546,000
the state could surpass Alaska within a year as the nation’s No. 2 oil producer. McMains said Alaska’s annual oil pro- duction has dropped from 249.8 million in 2008 to 204.8 million last year. He said the state is on pace to produce fewer than 200 million barrels this year. “Things are slow up here and people
are going down there to North Dakota to fi nd work,” he said. Texas produced just more than 1 mil-
lion barrels daily in December and 32.4 million barrels for the month, the most recent production numbers from that state show. “Texas is probably out of reach,” said
Continued on page 8 Unions disagree over
Keystone XL pipeline Confl ict lies between creating new jobs versus protecting the environment — 16
152.9 million barrels of crude oil produced in North Dakota in 2011
wells producing oil in North Dakota in January 2012
6,600
rigs drilling in North Dakota on March 8
205 MINDY GONZALES/Tribune
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