SaskEnergy unit Bayhurst Energy Services Corp. (Besco) will join Mistral Midstream Inc., Calgary, to build a liquids-extraction plant in southeastern Saskatchewan, just north of the North Dakota border.
The $72.5 million (Can.), 50-MMcfd straddle plant will extract C2+ from natural gas moving on SaskEnergy’s natural gas system from the Bakken formation in the region. Besco will hold a 10% share.
A Mistral spokesperson told OGJ the plant size is based on a “conservative view of gas volumes available for deep cut processing for NGL recovery in the area.” The plant will fractionate the raw stream, sending ethane into the Alberta petrochemical market, most likely via Mistral’s Vantage pipeline.
That pipeline is planned to move 40,000-60,000 b/d of ethane to Edmonton-Fort Saskatchewan from the Bakken shale by yearend (OGJ, June 3, 2013, p. 82; OGJ Online, Jan. 20, 2012).
Propane, butane, condensate, said the spokesperson, will be sold into regional NGL markets with “specifics being developed as supporting infrastructure continue to evolve in response Bakken production growth and emerging market opportunities.”
Construction will begin next year; the plant will begin operating in early 2015, the company said.