Meridian inks water supply, wastewater deals for Davis refinery

Sept. 13, 2019
Meridian Energy has executed long-term water supply and wastewater agreements with the city of Dickinson, ND, for the operator’s grassroots 49,500-b/sd high-conversion Davis refinery to be built in Billings County in the heart of the Bakken shale region.

Meridian Energy Group Inc. has executed long-term water supply and wastewater agreements with the city of Dickinson, ND, for the operator’s grassroots 49,500-b/sd high-conversion Davis refinery to be built in Billings County in the heart of southwestern North Dakota’s Bakken shale region (OGJ Online, Dec. 5, 2018).

Under these agreements, the city will provide all the industrial water needs for the Davis refinery—which will be located to the west of Dickinson, near the town of Belfield, ND, in Billings County—and will collect, treat, recycle, and dispose of all wastewater from the refinery, Meridian said.

These commercial arrangements with Dickinson will allow Meridian to build and operate the Davis refinery without gathering and treating water from the Dakota Aquifer, and building and operating water treatment facilities at the refinery site, the operator said.

Meridian said the agreements mark a major step forward for the company, which continues to prepare the Davis refinery site, in parallel with major design and module fabrication planning taking place at the company’s Houston facilities.

“Processed wastewater from Dickinson, which is currently being discharged into the river, will be recycled, generating a new revenue opportunity for [Dickinson]. This allows Meridian to reduce the environmental impact of their facilities and activities at the refinery,” said Dan Hedrington, senior project manager for the Davis refinery.

Most recently, Meridian let a contract to Emerson Electric Co., St. Louis, to provide automation control systems and technologies for the proposed Davis refinery (OGJ Online, May 14, 2019).

At the time, Meridian also confirmed it continues to advance site preparation and grading at the Davis refinery site and is proceeding with the project’s final design, equipment fabrication, and procurement, with full construction to resume later this year.

Scheduled for startup sometime in 2020, the Davis refinery, once in operation, will produce ultralow-sulfur diesel and premium gasoline from prolific crude feedstocks from the Bakken shale basin using advanced technologies intended to maximize operational efficiencies while minimizing environmental impacts (OGJ Online, Dec. 7, 2018).

This latest agreement for the North Dakota refinery follows Meridian’s announcement earlier in the year that it also plans to build a full-conversion, 60,000-b/sd refinery in Winkler County, Tex., in the heart of the Permian basin, that will be permitted under classification as a synthetic minor source of air contaminants like the Davis refinery (OGJ Online, Feb. 11, 2019).

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].