North Dakota Tribe Buys Idle Oil Pipeline From Enbridge

“This is a major step in enhancing our ability to get our trust assets of oil and gas out to market,” tribal chair Mark Fox said to the Bismarck Tribune.

There are more than 2,600 active oil and gas wells on the reservation that produced an average of 144,190 barrels of oil per day in February, according to the most recent figures from the state Department of Mineral Resources. Regulators estimate there is potential for 3,911 additional oil and gas wells on the reservation.

The 31-mile pipeline is the closest one to the tribe's Thunder Butte Petroleum subsidiary's transloading and oil storage facility. It can transport 15,000 barrels a day.