The North Dakota Public Service Commission (NDPSC) has approved Oasis Midstream Services LLC, a subsidiary of Oasis Petroleum Inc., Houston, to expand capacities of its Wild basin natural gas processing and crude stabilization plants in McKenzie County, ND, about 6 miles northeast of Watford City (OGJ Online, Oct. 18, 2016).
Approved for a siting permit on July 26, the expansion project will increase Oasis’s Wild basin overall gas processing capacity to 345 MMcfd from 80 MMcfd, crude stabilization capacity to 80,000 b/d from 60,000 b/d, and working-capacity crude storage to 350,000 bbl from 200,000 bbl, according to documents from NDPSC.
For the gas-processing leg of the expansion, Oasis will build a new 200-MMcfd processing train adjacent to its existing plant, as well as add 65 MMcfd in modular mechanical refrigeration units to enable the company’s ongoing production activities in Wild basin field while the new train is under construction.
The crude stabilization and storage expansions will entail the addition of a fourth stabilizer and new storage tank at the site, respectively.
With construction activities scheduled to begin at the gas plant immediately and the crude-handling installations in second-quarter 2018, Oasis expects to fully commission the expansions by November 2018, the company said in its May 2017 permit application for the $150-million project to NDPSC.
Alongside accommodating Oasis’s recently increased estimates of 200-300 MMcfd for its own Bakken gas reserves in Wild basin, the expansion project also will provide processing and handling capacities for any third-party operators in the region wishing to tie into the company’s growing gathering system, Oasis said.
Earlier in the year, Oasis announced it would increase capex plans for 2017 by more than $200 million from 2016 to about $605 million, excluding acquisitions (OGJ, Mar. 6, 2017, p. 24).
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].