As winter nears, Dakota
Access faces frigid weather and costly delays
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[December 02, 2016]
By Liz Hampton and Ernest Scheyder
HOUSTON
(Reuters) - Delays to the Dakota Access Pipeline have added millions of
dollars to Energy Transfer Partners' construction tab - but even if the
line is approved, the freezing temperatures will bring their own
challenges to finishing the drilling process.
Frigid weather makes some aspects of pipeline construction more
difficult, though not impossible, engineers and experts interviewed by
Reuters said this week.
While the majority of the construction on the 1,100-mile (1,770 km) line
is complete, work on a one-mile segment in North Dakota was halted in
September following protests from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and
others, who said it could desecrate sacred lands and contaminate
drinking water. That stretch would be expected to take 90 to 120 days to
finish, ETP has said.
Construction equipment used to bore under rivers can break through any
layer of frost, said Eric Hansen, the director of environmental services
at Westwood Professional Services, a surveying and engineering firm in
the U.S. upper Midwest.
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At issue, however, is the fluid construction companies use to lubricate
the drill head. That drilling fluid, which circulates to clear out
debris and keep parts lubricated, freezes at air temperatures between 10
and 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 to -7 Celsius).
To avoid this, pipeline crews will keep equipment running nonstop, which
allows them to avoid warming up equipment that's been turned off in cold
weather, said an engineer who has done work in North Dakota but declined
to be named.
The median temperature in Morton County, North Dakota, near the pipeline
route is 13 degrees F between December and February, according to the
National Weather Service. The NWS is forecasting a 60 percent chance
that temperatures will be lower than that median for the next three
months.
Hansen added that the high winds in North Dakota and heavy snow
accumulation can also slow operations. The temperature in Cannon Ball,
North Dakota was 30 degrees F on Thursday.
As the U.S. government weighs whether to grant Energy Transfer the
easement, the pipeline operator said in a legal filing in late November
that delays following the projected Jan. 1 start-up would cost about $84
million a month.
Energy Transfer Partners this week said it still expected to complete
the pipeline in the first quarter of next year, even after the U.S.
government in November further delayed a decision on whether to grant
the company an easement needed to drill under Lake Oahe, a reservoir
that is part of the Missouri River.
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![](../images/120216pics/busine3.jpg)
Veterans have a confrontation with police on Backwater bridge during
a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the
Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota,
U.S., December 1, 2016. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
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Even if boring started at the beginning of 2017, the 90 to 120-day time
frame for completion could mean additional costs of between $252 million
and $336 million.
The company has moved equipment to begin drilling under Lake Oahe as
soon as it receives the easement. The pipeline was originally slated to
begin transporting oil out of the Bakken shale to the U.S. Midwest by
the end of this year.
The segment of the Dakota Access that needs completion will burrow under
the ground before Lake Oahe, and then cut about 100 feet below the
bottom of the river, according to environmental assessment documents
from the Army Corps of Engineers and Dakota Access company.
Pipeline companies accustomed to working in freezing temperatures have
ways to combat the elements, such as using heated shacks at the site to
protect welders, said John Stoody, vice president of government and
public relations at the Association of Oil Pipelines, an industry group.
Capital-intensive pipeline projects are underpinned by firm commitments
from shippers, meaning an exodus of shippers due to delays could erode
the economic viability of the line.
"Loss of shippers to the project could effectively result in project
cancellation," the company said in a court filing.
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Energy Transfer cannot access the remaining $1.4 billion of its credit
facility without all necessary approvals for the line, the company said
on its quarterly earnings call.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton and Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
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