The two companies that have proposed natural gas pipelines to bring gas from the Bakken to central and eastern North Dakota made their pitches to the North Dakota Industrial Commission.
The Industrial Commission would commit to buying up to $500 million of space on that pipeline. That would be a $50 million commitment per year for the next 10 years.
The companies are Intensity Infrastructure Partners and WBI Energy.
Joe Griffin is the CEO of Intensity. He told the Commission that the company – once known as Hiland – has had experience building pipelines, that have carried Bakken oil.
"It's a natural fit for us," Griffin told the Commission. "It's coming a couple of years later. But we've done it before, and we're very confident that we can do it again."
Nichole Kvisto is the President and CEO of MDU Resource Group, the parent company for WBI. She told the Commission that now is the time to build that natural gas pipeline.
"We really see the stars aligning right now, with producer-push, and the need to increase production out of the Bakken," Kvisto said. She also said there is "demand-pull."
"That demand pull is being driven by industrial load, of course, but also electric demand," Kvisto said.
Kvisto said the growth of data centers is prompting demand to use natural gas to generate electricity.
The Commission expects to make funding decisions in August.
