Bakken Marketlink will transport US crude oil production to market using pipeline facilities that form part of the Keystone XL system. The project has secured a total of 65,000 bbl/d of contracts.
According to TransCanada, crude oil production in the US Bakken region is expected to increase by approximately 200,000–300,000 bbl/d by 2015. The Bakken Marketlink Project will help to relieve pipeline capacity constraints in the Williston Basin and will support forecasted growth in US domestic crude oil production. Keystone XL will also reduce America’s dependence on crude oil from Venezuela and the Middle East by up to 40 per cent.
TransCanada President and Chief Executive Officer Russ Girling said “This project will provide US producers with an alternative and competitive way of bringing their crude oil to market, and supports American workers who produce the oil and American companies who will refine it.”
The project is expected to be in service in the first quarter of 2013, subject to the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals.
