Valley Expansion Pipeline

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Valley Expansion Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline in North Dakota, USA to Minnesota, USA.

Location

The pipeline will run from Mapleton, North Dakota, USA to Clay County, Minnesota, USA.

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Project details

• Operator:
• Owner: WBI Energy Inc
• Parent company: MDU Resources Group
• Capacity: 33 million cubic feet of natural gas per day
• Length: 37.3 mi
• Diameter: 16 in
• Cost: US$57 million
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2018

Background

In September of 2016, WBI Energy, Inc., a subsidiary of MDU Resources Group, announced that it would move forward with construction of its Valley Expansion Pipeline Project in eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota after securing the capacity commitments needed. The pipeline will be 38-miles, and 16-inches. It will connect to WBI Energy's existing system near Mapleton, North Dakota, and with the Viking Gas Transmission Company pipeline near Felton, Minnesota. Cost of the expansion is estimated at $55 million to $60 million. The project, which is designed to transport 40 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, comes under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

In February of 2018, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorized MDU Resources Group's WBI Energy Inc. (WBI) to construct and operate expansion facilities for the Valley Expansion Project. The FERC order requires WBI to adopt the I-29 variation of the project, even though the length of its proposed pipeline would increase by 0.2 miles, due to the variation's environmental benefits. The order also grants WBI's request to establish its proposed incremental recourse reservation charge and its existing system commodity charge as initial recourse rates for project service. The project is part of WBI's plans to grow natural gas transportation volumes in the area. Since 2010, WBI has expanded its Bakken Shale takeaway capacity for gas six-fold, and it anticipates having significant capacity additions online by late 2019.

The pipeline went into service in 2018.