Tag: energy

Dakota Prairie Refinery posts losses, MDU Resources puts second refinery on hold

 

MDU Resources’ plans for a second refinery in North Dakota are being put on hold after a volatile mix of market conditions — largely paced by low oil prices — led the Dakota Prairie Refinery west of Dickinson to post larger-than-expected losses in 2015.

The company said in late 2014 that it had planned to build a second greenfield refinery in Minot. In its latest capital investment report filed Nov. 17 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, MDU Resources stated capital expenses for a second refinery had been removed from its forecast as it “focuses on optimizing its current refinery investment.”

“Once we reach the point where we can sit back and say this (the Dakota Prairie Refinery) is an optimized facility and it’s producing like we want it to be, then we’ll look at expansion,” MDU Resources public relations manager Tim Rasmussen said Thursday.

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Is the answer blowing in the wind?

Would you put a 350-foot wind turbine on your land?

That’s the question my dad was asked by a representative of NextEra Energy Resources not long after the company expressed interest in leasing a small corner of land in an area owned by our family about 2½ miles west of our farm.

The turbine would be part of the Brady Wind Energy Center II project NextEra plans to stretch across northern Hettinger County as a complementary project to the larger Brady Wind Energy Center I proposed for southern Stark County.

My dad promptly asked me the same question and others. “What do you know about the company?” And, “What do you think we should do?”

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Editorial: The long rejection for Keystone XL  

Why did it take President Barack Obama seven years to reject the Keystone XL pipeline?

We’ll never know the answer to that question.

What we do know is that the president seemed pretty happy with himself Friday when he finally took a knee holding the political football he’d seemingly been playing keep-away with since his first term began.

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Cutbacks in the Bakken: Baker Hughes layoff of 117 employees biggest signal yet of slowdown

Baker Hughes' Dickinson facility.
Baker Hughes’ Dickinson facility.

Falling oil prices and the resulting oil drilling slowdown in the Bakken Oil Patch has led one of the world’s largest oilfield services companies to make major cutbacks at its Dickinson office.

Baker Hughes sent a letter of notice to Dickinson Mayor Dennis Johnson on Wednesday, stating it was permanently terminating 117 employees here — most of them field operators and specialists.

In the letter, Baker Hughes stated that falling oil prices “have negatively impacted the market and reduced the overall need for the services provided by Baker Hughes.”

The Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires companies that plan to terminate more than 100 employees alert area and state workforce services, as well as the mayor of the city where the layoffs occur. Baker Hughes did not release how many workers it still employs at its Dickinson office.

Johnson said, in his 15 years as the city commission’s president, he cannot remember receiving a similar letter.

“Historically, at least for quite a while, there haven’t been any layoffs of that magnitude,” he said.

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Editorial: Keystone XL deserves answer, one way or another

President Barack Obama should go ahead and veto the Keystone XL pipeline. He wants to do it. His administration wants him to do it. His environmental activists want him to do it. Republicans (and some Democrats) don’t want him to do it. So what is he waiting for?

Well, if you believe Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., the president plans to put his veto pen to use in August when Congress is in recess.

“It’s an opportunity for him to do it more under the radar,” Hoeven told Forum News Service reporter Amy Dalrymple on Wednesday. Hoeven, the Senate’s most outspoken supporter of the pipeline, said he has sources who tell him Obama is finally ready to put his signature next to a veto he has long delayed.

That sounds about right. The president has kicked the can down the road on the Keystone XL issue since 2011, and there’s no way he leaves office without making a final decision on it. So why not now?

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