The newspaper, the Williston Herald in western North Dakota closely follows energy developments in the Bakken where Oklahoma energy producers are no strangers.
Renee Jean, assistant managing editor had her take on the state’s newest energy developments in her Energy Chaser column this week and we pass along what she had to write:
One of the state’s largest economic expansion projects to date has a new home, and that new home is Trenton. According to an announcement by Gov. Doug Burgum, Canada-based Cerilon GTL
will be building a $2.8 billion plant in Trenton that will start with an initial 24,000 barrels per day production of ultra-low sulfur diesel and other specialty products including military grade jet fuel. The Trenton location has access to rail, and is expected to begin construction in early 2023.
The company is getting $3 million from North Dakota for initial development, and future financial support from the state is anticipated. It’s one of many projects right now that Burgum says is positioning North Dakota to lead the nation in clean, sustainable energy development.
RED TRAIL IS NATIONAL MILESTONE: North Dakota has just given the green light to a CCUS project near Richardton that is a first, not only for the state, but the nation. No other state has yet used its Class 6 authority to approve a carbon sequestration project. On Tuesday, North Dakota became the first. The only other state with the regulatory ability to do that is Wyoming.
The Red Trail project will capture 180,000 metric tons annually of carbon dioxide, produced at its ethanol plant in Richardton. That low-carbon ethanol will then be marketed to California. It took three orders to permit the well, including one that stitches together all the pore space into one unit. That step is critical, North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms said, to ensure equitable compensation to the pore space owners.
MORE RIGS ARE COMING: North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms was in Williston last week for the Western Dakota Energy Association’s annual meeting. During it, he said the county’s “newest operator” is about to go “gangbusters” on 3-mile laterals, developing parts of the Williston Basin that have not yet been developed.
We can think of a few operators this could be, but it could also be that Helms is referring to a transaction that has not yet been announced. If you’ve got ideas of your own about who it could be, reach out and let us know your thoughts on it.
The upshot here, though, is that Helms expects the county to get 20 percent more rigs, and McKenzie County will get 50 percent more drilling and completion activity.
Source: Williston Harold