The North American pipeline industry is in process of spending $4.3 billion on new onshore pipelines in 2013 according to information from a new database, announced by leading energy business research & consulting firm Douglas-Westwood.
DW Analyst, Neha Rustagi, commented that, “the primary motives for newly announced North American onshore pipeline projects are to increase operators’ access to shale plays, relieve bottlenecks in regions such as the US Midwest, satisfy growing demand elsewhere, or replace aging infrastructure.
“The development of unconventional oil and gas extraction technologies has made the pipeline sector in the US extremely dynamic and the timeliness of industry information is therefore critical. Between 2011 and 2012, the number of productive wells in US shale oil plays increased from a few hundred to over 4,000.
These developments have left many regions, such as the Northeast and the Bakken, with tremendous supply that is constrained by a lack of takeaway capacity. Where they have not yet been built rail and trucks have become a riskier, more expensive substitute,” Rustagi said.
“Pipeline infrastructure is similarly necessary in Canada to enable the transportation of oil from its vast landlocked reserves to both domestic and foreign markets,” the report says.