$150M processing plant to start operating

Associated Press

Oasis Midstream Partners has completed a natural gas processing plant that will help reduce the wasteful flaring of excess natural gas in North Dakota’s Bakken oil patch.

The $150 million Oasis Wild Basin II plant near Watford City will add 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas processing capacity. The first major plant completed in recent years in the Bakken is to begin operating in November.

Oasis began operating the first Wild Basin plant in 2016 to process 80 million cubic feet of gas per day. “We figured out pretty quickly we were going to fill up that plant pretty fast,” CEO Taylor Reid told The Bismarck Tribune.

Oasis built the new plant to support its own gas production, but it also plans to process gas from other companies.

Reid projects the new plant will be full in late 2019 or 2020, depending on the level of contracts from others. “If we’re able to sign enough opportunities up, there’s a pretty good chance we could fill it up by next year,” he said.

North Dakota produced a record 2.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily in July, exceeding the amount of processing capacity available in the state.

North Dakota Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad projects that the state’s natural gas production eventually will exceed 4 billion cubic feet per day.

The new plant will increase the state’s processing capacity by about 10 percent. The entire Wild Basin facility, including gathering pipeline infrastructure and other associated facilities, was a $600 million investment, Reid said.