North Dakota sets new crude transport standards

The North Dakota Industrial Commission on Tuesday adopted new conditioning standards to improve the safety of Bakken crude oil for transport.    The North Dakota Industrial Commission on Tuesday adopted new conditioning standards to improve the safety of Bakken crude oil for transport.
   Order No. 25417 sets operating standards for conditioning equipment to separate production fluids into gas and liquid. The order includes parameters for temperatures and pressures under which the equipment must operate to ensure that volatile gases are removed before oil is shipped to market, the commission explained.
   “This order will bring every barrel of Bakken crude within standards to improve the safety of oil for transport,” said commission members Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring in a joint statement.
   The new standard requires well operators to condition Bakken crude oil to a vapor pressure of no more than 13.7 pounds per square inch (psi), while national standards set crude oil stability at a vapor pressure of 14.7 psi. The order requires operators to separate light hydrocarbons from all Bakken crude oil to be transported and prohibits the blending of light hydrocarbons back into oil supplies prior to shipment.
   “Under the order, all Bakken crude oil produced in North Dakota will be conditioned with no exceptions,” the commission said.
   Lynn Helms, director of the state’s Department of Mineral Resources, said the department’s Oil and Gas Division staff will conduct field inspections to enforce compliance. He said oil companies that do not comply could face a penalty of up to $12,500 per day in violation.
   The standards take effect April 1.
   The commission said it developed the new oil conditioning standards after a Sept. 23 public hearing and receipt of additional comments. In considering new standards, the commission heard from a range of stakeholders including North Dakota residents and representatives from the energy industry. Also taken into consideration were recent crude oil quality and safety studies including one by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
   Railroads have emphasized that they are taking additional measures to improve the safety of crude oil transported over the nation’s rail network.
   “Railroads are taking multiple steps to further increase the safety of transporting crude oil, but more can be done when it comes to the tank cars used to haul it,” said Association of American Railroads President and Chief Executive Officer Edward R. Hamberger in a statement this summer. “Railroads believe that federal tank car standards should be raised to ensure crude oil and other flammable liquids are moving in the safest car possible based on the product they are moving.”