Enbridge Announces Second North Dakota Pipeline Expansion

11/1/2007 -- (HELENA) - Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer today said he is pleased with the announcement this week by Enbridge Energy Partners that the company will proceed with its second expansion of its North Dakota Pipeline System.

Governor Schweitzer met with Enbridge on Tuesday in Calgary and discussed the need for pipeline expansion with them. Montana is one of only two states in the nation to increase oil production in the last year.

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The expansion, with an estimated cost of approximately $150 million, will add 40,000 bpd of capacity from the western end of the system to Minot, N.D. and 51,000 bpd of capacity from Minot to Clearbrook, Minn. This will markedly increase the capacity to ship oil from Northeast Montana to market. These improvements will increase total system capacity from 110,000 bpd to 161,000 bpd, with an in-service date of late 2009.

This new Enbridge expansion project is in addition to the 30,000 bpd expansion project that is under construction and targeted for completion by the end of 2007. Governor Schweitzer has earlier indicated his support for both of the expansion projects.

"We have responded to our customers' transport needs and modified our proposed expansion project,” observed Brian Johnson, Enbridge North Dakota region manager. “This approach, which still requires shipper support, is designed to benefit regional crude oil explorers, gatherers and producers, as well as refiners, by helping relieve a petroleum transportation bottleneck within the region including Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota.”

“The expansion of the Enbridge oil pipeline system is good news for Montana,” Schweitzer said. “Not only does this allow Montana producers access to Midwest refinery markets where they can receive maximum value for this valuable natural resource, but it means the State of Montana will recover more revenues from this production.

The Enbridge system gathers crude oil from production areas in eastern Montana and western North Dakota and transports that oil to Clearbrook, Minn., where the system interconnects with the Minnesota Pipeline and the Enbridge Partners Lakehead System. From the Lakehead System, shippers can access most of the major crude oil refinery markets along the Great Lakes and in the Midwest.

Source: Montana Governor