Intensity Infrastructure plans second phase of Bakken Shale natural gas pipeline

Following the conclusion of an open season on Phase 1 of the Intensity natural gas egress pipeline in the Bakken, its developer launched April 17 an open season for a second phase to take gas further east in North Dakota.

Intensity Infrastructure Partners is planning a second phase of the pipeline "as a result of feedback gathered during its initial open season," it said on April 17. The second phase would comprise 208 miles of 30-inch pipeline running east from McLean County to Casselton, North Dakota, around 20 miles from the border with Minnesota. It has an estimated in-service date of Jan. 1, 2030, the company said.

An open season on the first phase, which will run 136 miles from the Bakken in western North Dakota into McLean County, concluded in March.

Intensity Infrastructure has slightly revised down the planned size of the first phase. It will have a diameter of 36 inches and the pipeline will have an initial capacity of 1.1 Bcf/d, expandable to 1.5 Bcf/d with compression, the company said on April 17. When launching the first open season on Feb. 3, the company had envisioned a 42-inch pipeline with an initial capacity of 1.5 Bcf/d.

Intensity Infrastructure expects the gas to be consumed within the state.

"The pipeline will be permitted as an intrastate Hinshaw pipeline pursuant to Section 1 (c) of the Natural Gas Act and will serve end users in North Dakota," Chief Commercial Officer Matthew Griffin said by email on April 17. Intrastate pipes are considered 'Hinshaw' lines if the gas is received and used within the state and subject to state regulation.

Potential receipt points include interconnections with Northern Border and WBI Energy interstate pipeline systems, and also several gas processing plants, according to the open season document.

The Intensity project is in competition with Bakken East, an expansion on the WBI Energy System that would have a capacity of up to 760,000 Dt/d and could run around 375 miles from the Bakken to central North Dakota, WBI Energy said when launching a non-binding open season in December 2024.

"WBI Energy is actively engaged with potential customers and landowners along the proposed route to ensure the project is designed responsibly while meeting the long-term natural gas transportation needs of the region," spokesperson Mark Snider said on April 17. "The benefits of our existing pipeline and storage assets, as well as potential new pipeline interconnects, have been viewed positively by potential customers for this project, and we are pleased with our discussions to date."

Bakken production

S&P Global Commodity Insights expects production to peak around 3.8 Bcf/d in the mid to late 2030s, up from current production of around 2.6 Bcf/d, analyst Anna Trier said.

For now, limited pipeline capacity is constraining production, which has been hovering close to 2.6 Bcf/d since late 2023, according to data from Commodity Insights.

Gas produced in the Bakken competes with Canadian gas for space on the Northern Border Pipeline, driving down prices in Western Canada; The AECO C cash prices held an average discount of $2.68/MMBtu to Henry Hub in the first quarter of 2025, compared with 53 cents in the same period of 2024 according to data from Platts, part of Commodity Insights.

So far this April the basis discount has averaged $1.94/MMBtu, compared with 57 cents/MMBtu in April 2024.

Some relief for the basin will come when Kinder Morgan's Bakken xPress and TC Energy's Bison XPress start service. The linked projects will add 300 MMcf/d of transport capacity from the Bakken to the Cheyenne Hub. The projects were approved by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October 2024 and are planned to start service in 2026.