Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (ticker: ETP) said its Dakota Access, LLC has received an easement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct a pipeline across land owned by the Army Corps on both sides of Lake Oahe in North Dakota.
The release of this easement by the Army Corps follows a directive from President Donald Trump to the Department of the Army and the Army Corps to take all necessary and appropriate steps that would permit construction and operation of the Dakota Access pipeline, including easements to cross federal lands, the company said in a statement.
With this action, Dakota Access now has received all federal authorizations necessary to proceed expeditiously to complete construction of the pipeline, the company said.
The Dakota Access pipeline consists of approximately 1,172 miles of new 30-inch diameter crude oil pipeline from North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois, and the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline consists of more than 700 miles of existing pipeline that has been converted to crude oil service from Patoka to Nederland, Texas. The two pipelines (together, the “Bakken Pipeline”) are expected to be in service in the second quarter of 2017.
With the receipt of the easement, ETP said it expects to complete approximately $2.6 billion of committed debt financing and equity transactions within the next several days, including access to the remaining $1.4 billion of the previously announced $2.5 billion project financing for Dakota Access and $1.2 billion from the closing of the previously announced sale by ETP of a minority interest in the Bakken Pipeline to MarEn Bakken Company LLC.
Meantime Ethan Belamy of R.W. Baird reports that the Cheyenne River Sioux have asked for a restraining order against DAPL on religious grounds. Bellamy’s comments appear in the accompanying analyst commentary box. Additionally, the Seattle city council has voted 9-0 to part ways with Wells Fargo because of the bank’s financial backing of the pipeline. The Seattle Times estimates the bank has approximately $3 billion in annual business with Seattle which the city will pull back at the end of its contract in 2018.
