HOUSTON, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Enbridge Energy Inc. said Marathon Petroleum Corp. signed on as the main shipper of oil from its $2.6 billion Sandpiper pipeline planned from North Dakota.
"We are delighted to welcome Marathon Petroleum as both a committed shipper and a partner," Stephen Wuori, president of Enbridge Liquids Pipelines, said in a statement Monday. "Their shipping commitment demonstrates the economic attractiveness of establishing a low-cost reliable pipeline solution for Bakken producers to access the premium North American markets for light crude oil."
Sandpiper is meant to carry more than 200,000 barrels of oil per day from the Bakken reserve area in North Dakota to an Enbridge terminal in Superior, Wis.
Enbridge filed an application in Minnesota for the 610-mile pipeline in October. Minnesota officials will take a year to review public concerns.
Sandpiper is part of a regional plan to get more oil out of North Dakota, where the lack of pipeline infrastructure is a problem for the state at the heart of the U.S. oil and natural gas boom.
"With the growth in Bakken crude oil production, the Sandpiper project will provide needed pipeline takeaway capacity for crude oil transportation out of the region," Mike Palmer, Marathon's senior vice president for distribution, said in a separate statement Monday.
