Army Corps Grants Easement to Complete Dakota Access Pipeline
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has cleared the way to allow Energy Transfer Partners LP to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline. The company announced Feb. 8 that its subsidiary Dakota Access LLC has received an easement from the Army Corps to construct the pipeline across land owned by the Corps on both sides of Lake Oahe in North Dakota.
The release of this easement by the Army Corps follows a directive from President Donald Trump to the Department of the Army and the Corps to take all necessary and appropriate steps that would permit construction and operation of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), including easements to cross federal lands. With this action, Dakota Access now has received all federal authorizations necessary to complete construction of the pipeline.
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DAPL consists of approximately 1,172 miles of new 30-in. diameter crude oil pipeline from North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois, and the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline consists of more than 700 miles of existing pipeline that has been converted to crude oil service from Patoka to Nederland, Texas. The two pipelines (together, the “Bakken Pipeline”) are expected to be in service in the second quarter of 2017.
With the receipt of the easement, Energy Transfer expects to complete approximately $2.6 billion of committed debt financing and equity transactions within the next several days, including access to the remaining $1.4 billion of the previously announced $2.5 billion project financing for DAPL and $1.2 billion from the closing of the previously announced sale by the company of a minority interest in the Bakken Pipeline to MarEn Bakken Co. LLC.
On Jan. 24, Trump signed an executive order directing the Army Corps to revisit the easement permitting of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Energy Transfer has already spent an estimated $3.5 billion construction the project.
Tags: Army Corps of Engineers, Dakota Access Pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, permitting
