NorthAmOil: A boost for Dakota Access

The Dakota Access oil pipeline received a boost last week, when the administration of US President Joe Biden said it would not force the pipeline to be shut down while federal regulators carry out a new environmental review on the project.
The fight over Dakota Access’ future continues, with opponents of the project awaiting a court ruling that could still result in the pipeline being shut down. However, a Department of Justice (DoJ) lawyer, Ben Schifman, told the US District Court for the District of Columbia that while the federal government had the authority to take enforcement action against Dakota Access – which could include a shutdown – it would not do so “at this time”.
The decision by the Biden administration not to intervene in the Dakota Access case comes as a relief to the oil industry, following the administration’s immediate action to stop the Keystone XL pipeline upon taking office in January. While the path forward is not straightforward for Dakota Access operator Energy Transfer, the administration’s decision provides some breathing space. It is also welcome news for producers in the Bakken plan that rely on the pipeline to ship their output to market.
In other Bakken developments from recent days, Hess announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell its Little Knife and Murphy Creek assets in the play to Enerplus for $312mn. Hess had not been planning to drill on this most of this acreage before 2026.