Posted on 10/24/2014 9:47:15 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Bill Gilliam and North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple announced two weeks ago that a venture called Badlands NGL is trying to build a petrochemical plant in North Dakota.
The plant will use ethane, the cheap, abundant component of natural gas that rises from the same wells that produce oil in the Bakken. Natural gas in North Dakota is especially high in ethane content (see deck 39), and Gilliam thinks he can figure out a way to get enough of it in pure form to start cranking out train car loads of plastic beads for industrial use.
A lot has to happen between now and then, but such a project would signal a huge shift in North Dakota, where 28 percent of natural gas was burned off in August. Along with two proposed fertilizer plants, it would mark the beginnings of a chemical industry in the state.
I talked to Gilliam on the phone earlier this week for a story that’s running on Sunday. Most of what he said didn’t make it into the story, so I’ve taken portions of the interview and reproduced them here.
Q. Is there enough ethane being produced in North Dakota currently to meet Badlands’ needs?
Gilliam: “Way more than enough. If you look at current production in publicly available materials, we’re looking at in the range of over 200,000 barrels a day being produced and most world-scale polymer plants on the Gulf Coast need in the range of 75,000 barrels a day. We may use a little bit more or a little bit less than that. We certainly think that this is a facility that would expand over time....
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
The man who wants to build a plastics factory in North Dakota (Part 2)
http://www.startribune.com/blogs/280360442.html
The Strib has now alerted the energy hater in chief.
This will be shut down much like coal.
People were getting all riled up for transporting beach sand through the midwest - silicosis or something causing lung cancer. Lord knows the fuss they’ll put up against plastic and fertilizer. (Did you know - Tim McVeigh BLEW UP that building with fertilizer!?)
>> ... such a project would signal a huge shift in North Dakota, where 28 percent of natural gas was burned off in August. Along with two proposed fertilizer plants, it would mark the beginnings of a chemical industry in the state.
Praise the LORD! This is good news indeed. It has long bothered me that all that gas was going to waste.
$4.2 Billion... financed by Spanish, Italian, and German lenders? Sad state of affairs.
Not as riled as the ones (likely the same bunch) decrying the shipment of all that that fracked hyper-explosive fracked purt’near nukuler (did I say “fracked”?) crude oil by rail. (/s)
I like the idea of exporting a product, even if a precursor, instead of just raw materials. It is value added to ‘created’ wealth, always an economic plus.
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
Benjamin? /obscure
Yes, I live up there part of the time, and every day and night you can see a valuable commodity being wasted and money burning in flares across the bald prairie of the Bakken.
Canada doesn’t waste this valuable resource. They use and sell all of it. It’s high time we do the same.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.