Bakken Pipeline One of the key factors in the survival of the Bakken oil patch in the future will be affordable transportation options. Bakken producers receive lower realized prices for their output due to the transportation costs associated with moving the product as well as the difficulty in storing it. This issue has been a persistent problem for years, but crude by rail has helped make the issue less problematic over time. Pipelines are the next step for the Bakken if it is to become a sustainable long-term oil producing area. Yet putting in a simple pipeline may be more difficult than it appears – a state of affairs that may jeopardize the long run feasibility of shale production in North Dakota. The pertinent example here is TransCanada and its Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada ran into an unjustified level of hostility towards its pipeline. Opponents and proponents in that […]