Hess Midstream (HES) wants to repurpose a pipeline in North Dakota to move natural gas from its Tioga plant to the Northern Border Pipeline (NBPL). The conversion would help solve looming constraints for HES, but also contribute to a wider egress problem faced by Bakken shippers.
Hess Tioga Gas Plant LLC has applied with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the authority to own and operate the North Dakota Natural Gas Pipeline (NDNGPL) as a jurisdictional pipeline. NDNGPL is an existing 10.75-inch pipe (60 MMcf/d capacity) running 60 miles from the Tioga plant to NBPL in Williams and McKenzie counties, ND.
In 1994, FERC determined that NDNGPL was exempt from its regulatory authority because the facilities primarily serve production and gathering functions. Hess uses the pipeline mainly for its own operations, including for fuel gas to supply the Tioga plant and to provide gas lift for a producer affiliate’s operations south of the plant. HES requests to repurpose NDNGPL into an egress pipeline, citing increased gas production and downstream capacity constraints.
The 400 MMcf/d Tioga plant, covered in the Bakken Supply & Demand Forecast, is one of the largest gas processing facilities in North Dakota. Tioga sends residue gas to the Williston Basin Interstate (WBI) and Alliance Pipeline systems, providing valuable access to bigger markets. WBI connects to NBPL and the Ventura hub, and Alliance provides access to the Chicago citygate. Along with Targa (TRGP), HES also owns 50% of Little Missouri Four, a 200 MMcf/d gas processing plant located south of the Missouri River. According to plant data in Energy Data Studio, reported volumes have increased in 2024 on the combined systems (see figure from Energy Data Studio).
The problem for HES and other Bakken shippers is that TC Energy’s (TRP) Northern Border already runs full much of the time, creating more competition in a crowded field (see EDA’s forecast for NBPL in the figure). The interconnection of NDNGPL with NBPL has a design capacity of 92 MMcf/d; adding an average of 76 MMcf/d will potentially constrain egress, as we expect higher utilization on NBPL by 2H28. – Maria Paz Urdaneta Tickers: HES, TRP.
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