North Dakota mineral resources director Lynn Helms says he hopes to have a suggested order on oil conditioning ready for the Industrial Commission to review next month.
The call for conditioning comes on the heels of several incidents where trains carrying Bakken crude exploded in accidents.
The Mineral Resources Department recently held a hearing on conditioning. Helms says his office has just finished combing through the testimony at that hearing – and should have an order ready for the Commission's mid-November meeting.
"There could be a set of standard operating practices, along with the flexibility for somebody who has another idea, like a new technology, or some other way of conditioning oil at a well site, to be able to approach the Commission and get that approved," said Helms. "That's about as specific as I can get at this point."
Helms says the rule could also allow the use of regional conditioning plants.
"What we're trying to achieve is a set of practices that generates a safe, saleable, transportable crude oil, whichever way you choose to do it," said Helms.
Helms says the order would probably take effect after the first of the year.
State pipeline authority director Justin Kringstad told the Industrial Commission 60 percent of North Dakota Bakken crude is being transported by rail.
