WBI Energy, a subsidiary of MDU Resources Group, Inc., is on a mission to provide “safe, reliable natural gas transportation services across the Northern Plains” and its most recent project expands its reach. The company recently completed a 60.2-mile pipeline expansion that will bring an additional 20.6 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to the southeastern part of North Dakota.
A need for the expansion was identified through feedback that WBI Energy was receiving from Montana-Dakota Utilities Co., Great Plains Natural Gas Co. and key stakeholders, including local officials in Kindred, Wahpeton and other southeastern North Dakota communities. The concern was insufficient access, or in Kindred – no access, to firm natural gas service which negatively impacted economic development and growth. The challenge was getting natural gas to the area. This led WBI Energy toward exploring the pipeline and creating a solution.
Headquartered in Bismarck, WBI Energy initially submitted a prefiling request in September 2021 and received the notice from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to proceed with construction in February 2024, after achieving other needed milestones along the approval process. It is quite a process that includes collaboration among many different national, state and local agencies. WBI Energy sought to determine the most feasible route with minimal environmental impacts.
To expand its services to southeastern North Dakota, WBI Energy needed a connection to existing pipeline along with a compressor station, which was a critical piece to make the project viable. Fortunately, the company completed its Valley Expansion Project in 2018 to get gas to the Red River Valley. That project included the construction of a compressor station in Mapleton.
As Brent Miller, MDU Resources treasurer, explains, “When we first started reviewing options to get more natural gas transportation capacity built into the Wahpeton area, our Valley Expansion Project was not yet in service. This meant that reaching adequate natural gas supply points were much farther away from Wahpeton, and therefore much more costly to construct. The Valley Expansion Project served as an important platform from which we could build to Wahpeton.”
Another critical piece in a project of this scale is funding. WBI Energy worked with Kevin Murphy,
U.S. Bank senior vice president of Power and Utilities Division, for financing. “The Match Program through Bank of North Dakota is a great alternative financing tool to support critical infrastructure projects in North Dakota,” Murphy explains. “It provides a very competitive, comprehensive financing structure for large companies in the state at attractive terms.”
Miller, who has been with MDU Resources for 11 years and has worked through financing of other projects, adds. “The competitive financing offered through the Match Program provided lower interest rates when compared to traditional financing options, which in turn increased the return profile of the project. With less interest expense, we also have more capital available for additional growth projects.”
WBI Energy and MDU are investing resources in North Dakota and are looking ahead to long-term growth in the state. The Wahpeton Expansion Project is an example of its commitment to help support its customers and economic growth in the state.
In regard to the Match Program and helping to fund the expansion project, BND Financial Institutions Market Manager Kaylen Hausauer shares, “You take state dollars and deploy them into financing at low cost, which generates this economic activity or opportunity in these areas, and then that in turn, it creates additional sales tax and real estate tax dollars. It’s just this full circle kind of cycle.”
Having access to uninterrupted natural gas in southeastern North Dakota will, as Miller explains, “allow industry and communities in southeast North Dakota to continue to attract investment and grow, which in turn allows our company, both WBI Energy and Montana-Dakota Utilities, to grow in the region.” He adds, “Economic development shouldn’t be impeded by insufficient access to natural gas when it’s so readily available in the state. It allows that access.”
