2 Natural Gas Pipelines Compete for $500M From North Dakota

 North Dakota Pipeline Authority Executive Director Justin Kringstad. (Photo by Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) –  Two pipeline companies are competing for a financial guarantee of up to $500 million from the North Dakota government to bring natural gas to the eastern half of the state.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission is expected to decide on Thursday which project to back.

The state wants more pipeline capacity to help oil and gas operators in the Bakken reach customers in the east, said North Dakota Pipeline Authority Executive Director Justin Kringstad. Right now, eastern North Dakota gets its natural gas from one source — the Viking Gas Transmission pipeline, which brings gas down from Canada.

A pipeline connecting the area to the west would support economic development as well as make the power supply in the east more secure, Kringstad said. “There’s long been a risk in having a single source of supply,” he said.