WARD COUNTY, ND—The Montana-North Dakota chapter of the National Service, Transmission, Exploration, and Production Safety Network (MonDaks STEPS) held its first safety stand down on Feb. 14, 2013.

Samson Oil & Gas Ltd. agreed to acquire a net 1,225 acres in two drilling units in the Rainbow Project, Williams County, ND, involving the Bakken and Three Forks formations.

Oneok Partners LP has completed three projects that are part of its previously announced growth program through 2015.

CenterPoint Energy Bakken Crude Services LLC (CEBCS), an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of CenterPoint Energy Inc., has entered into a long-term agreement with XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp, to gather XTO’s crude oil production through a new crude oil gathering and transportation pipeline system in North Dakota's Bakken formation.

Construction has begun of the 20,000-b/d Dakota Prairie Refinery west of Dickinson, ND, which will yield mainly diesel from Bakken crude oil (OGJ Online, Feb. 7, 2013).

Continental Resources Inc., Oklahoma City, the top producer and leaseholder in the Williston basin Bakken play, said it increased its end-2012 proved reserves 54% to 785 million bbl of oil equivalent, 72% oil.

Hess Corp. announced a 2013 exploration and production budget of $6.7 billion, of which 40% will be dedicated to unconventional oil and gas plays.

Phillips 66 signed a 5-year contract with Global Partners LP under which Global will use its rail loading, logistics, and transportation network to deliver crude oil from the Bakken formation of North Dakota to the Phillips 66 Bayway refinery in New Jersey.

Enbridge Inc. has received sufficient shipper support to advance its Light Oil Market Access Program.

The Bakken-Three Forks play in the Williston basin contained an estimated 903 billion bbl of original oil in place or 57% more than in 2010 when Continental Resources Inc. estimated that the entire field would eventually yield 20 billion bbl of oil and 4 billion boe of natural gas, the company said.