Dakota Access

For the past five years, crude oil producers in the Bakken have depended on railroads to transport a significant share of their output to market—there simply hasn’t been enough pipeline capacity out of the tight-oil play. Now, construction of the long-awaited, 450 Mb/d Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is finally poised to begin, and a late-2016 online date for DAPL is planned. DAPL’s capacity would enable producers to further reduce their use of crude-by-rail, but with Bakken production on the decline, will DAPL really be needed? And what about additional out-of-the-Bakken takeaway capacity being planned? Today, we consider the challenges and pitfalls of developing midstream infrastructure in fast-changing markets, focusing on Bakken crude.

A year ago (April 2015) the price spread between Light Louisiana Sweet (LLS) the St. James, LA benchmark light crude and Permian West Texas Intermediate (WTI) delivered to Houston was roughly $2.50/Bbl. In the first quarter of 2016 – following the end of the crude export ban and the crash of crude prices below $40.bbl – that spread narrowed to 30 cents/Bbl. This price differential change has thrown a wrench into traditional Gulf Coast price relationships that encouraged the flow of crude east from Houston to Louisiana. Further changes are expected as pipeline projects due to be completed in the next two years will deliver Bakken and Permian crude direct to St. James. Today we wrap up our series on St. James with a look at changing crude prices and flows.

Yesterday (August 3, 2015) Brent crude closed under $50/Bbl for the first time since January 2015. At that price expensive crude-by-rail (CBR) freight costs to the East Coast leave Bakken producers with netbacks not much over $30/Bbl. Yet CBR shipments to the East Coast were still over 400 Mb/d in May 2015 according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). By 2017 there should be adequate capacity to get all Bakken crude to market by pipeline. But direct pipeline competition against rail to the East Coast is not expected until at least 2020. Today we look at the future of East Coast CBR.