The Dakota Access Pipeline, (DAPL) was built to transport Bakken crude oil from its point of origin in far North Dakota to a terminus in Patoka, Illinois. Patoka is the second largest crude storage hub, after Cushing, Oklahoma. It also is strategically located in the mid-West refining matrix with a number of crude oil refineries in the Illinois/Indiana area. With a nameplate capacity of ~570-K BOPD a clear need existed for it in the minds of operator, Energy Transfer, (ET), and its partners, Phillips 66, (PSX), Enbridge, (ENB), and Marathon Petroleum, (MPC), as production from this remote corner of the country ramped to nearly 1.5 mm BOPD from 2016 to early 2020. In recent months, thanks to the Covid-19 and OPEC+ induced oil price crash, production from the Bakken has dropped precipitously by nearly a third to just over 1-mm BOPD. All indications are that this decline will continue […]