PN Bakken: Summit expands Bakken oil, water gathering

Dallas-based Summit Midstream Partners LLC and Summit Investments said June 25 that they are significantly expanding their Divide crude oil and water gathering system under construction in Williams and Divide counties in North Dakota.

“In addition to the approximately 90 miles of crude gathering pipeline being constructed as part of the Divide system, Summit Investments will construct approximately 145 miles of new gathering pipeline capable of handling up to 45,000 barrels of crude oil and 45,000 barrels of water per day,” the company said in a press release.

Capital costs for the expansion, which is expected to be put in service in phases between the fourth quarter of this year the first quarter of next year, are “approximately $60 million and will add to the approximately $200 million of expansion capital being spent by Summit Investments in 2013.”

The expansion is “supported by the recent execution of a new, 10 year, fee-based crude oil and water gathering agreement covering 250,000 dedicated acres with a leading independent producer” in the Bakken play, Summit said.

Steve Newby, president and CEO of Summit Investments was quoted in the press release as saying, “The execution of this new commercial agreement reflects the next step in our growth strategy to expand our presence in the Bakken shale play through organic development projects. We are excited to expand our existing crude oil and water gathering service offerings to new customers that are actively drilling around our Divide system, and we expect to continue to expand our gathering system with other producers that are active in the area. This development will add additional scale to our already large inventory of future drop down opportunities for SMLP.”

Summit Midstream Partners owns and operates midstream energy infrastructure assets in several unconventional resource basins in North America.