ONEOK Partners, LP Plans Crude Oil Pipeline From North Dakota To Oklahoma

ONEOK Partners, L.P. announced Monday it plans on entering the crude oil business by building a $1.8 billion pipeline from North Dakota to Cushing, Oklahoma.

The proposed 1,300-mile crude-oil pipeline will have the capacity to transport 200,000 barrels per day.

According to a news release, the Bakken Crude Express Pipeline will transport light-sweet crude oil.

"As producers continue to aggressively develop crude oil from wells in the Bakken Shale, more crude-oil pipeline takeaway capacity will be required," said Terry K. Spencer, ONEOK Partners president. "This proposed pipeline will provide producers with efficient and reliable transportation of their product directly to one of the largest crude-oil market hubs in the U.S."

Spencer says the move marks the natural gas gathering and processing company's entry into the crude oil transportation business.

The news release says the proposed pipeline route is expected to parallel more than 80 percent of the partnership's existing and planned natural gas liquids pipelines.

ONEOK Partners, LP says the pipeline could be operating by early 2015.

Read ONEOK news release.