Tesoro to purchase Bakken pipeline and storage

Tesoro is awaiting regulatory approval for its planned acquisition of Great Northern Midstream LLC and its crude oil pipeline, gathering system and storage and rail loading facilities.

Assets to be purchased include the 97 mile BakkenLink crude oil pipeline, which connects to several third-party gathering systems, a 28 mile gathering system in the core of the Bakken, a 154 000 bpd rail loading facility and a 657 000 bbl storage facility in Fryburg.

Should the deal go through, Tesoro will be capable of pumping roughly 65 000 barrels of oil out of the Bakken each day.

Tesoro already owns the Tesoro High Plains Pipeline, which pumps crude oil directly into the company’s 68 000 bpd refinery in Mandan, North Dakota.

“This acquisition would not substantially change the way we move product to our Mandan Refinery. We expect our enhanced system to provide Tesoro’s West Coast facilities with cost-effective access to advantaged crude oil and provide producers additional market access. Customers gain additional flexibility from the rail loading and storage facility, which can provide outbound deliveries to the West, East and Gulf coasts,” Tesoro spokesperson Brendan Smith said in a written statement.

The BakkenLink will add capacity: "Our acquisition of Great Northern Midstream is aligned with our strategy to grow our logistics business, supply advantaged crude oil to our refineries and make these assets available to third-party customers," Greg Goff, CEO of Tesoro Corporation, said in a statement. "Combining the Great Northern Midstream assets with our Tesoro High Plains Pipeline will create a leading crude oil pipeline system in the most prolific region of the Bakken."

A price is not being named for the deal, which is expected to close in 1Q16.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: Bismarck Tribune, The Dickinson Press

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/16122015/tesoro-to-purchase-bakken-pipeline-and-storage/