Study Suggests Western ND Oil Pipeline To Canada

The study was done by Kadrmas, Lee & Jackson, a North Dakota engineering firm, and Rooney Engineering Inc. of Centennial, Colo.

Although lower prices have slowed oil pumping in western North Dakota, transportation problems have been a significant factor in limiting production.

At peak prices, the region's oil pipeline network had all the crude it could carry, forcing producers to either throttle back on production or pay more to ship by truck or rail. A shortage of pipeline space translated into lower prices for oil producers.

A TransCanada spokeswoman at the company's headquarters in Calgary, Alberta, said late Tuesday that no one was available to comment on the report. Helms said North Dakota officials have conferred with TransCanada about the study.

TransCanada's Keystone pipeline is being built to carry crude from eastern Alberta to Illinois refineries and to Cushing, Okla., a major oil supply hub. A segment of the 2,148-mile pipeline has been built through eastern North Dakota.

Construction has not yet begun on the Keystone XL pipeline, which is intended to supply crude to Houston and Port Arthur, Texas. In the upper Great Plains, the pipeline's route will go through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.