Dakota Plains, the heavily integrated midstream energy sector operator that has been making a killing via 50/50 JV crude off-take servicing that spans the gamut from marketing, to transloading and trucking, has issued an update to markets today on their expansion progress at the terminal, as well as covering ongoing corporate activities.
The new expansion to the Pioneer Terminal has successfully brought up capacity to the dual 8.3k feet of track desired (facility can now handle two 120-car trains with the full loop) and cars began loading last month in January as work wrapped up on this state-of-the-art transloading terminal, with management beaming that the job came in under budget, on-time, and without a single lost time incident in over 120k man-hours. The company looks to set a throughput record this month and is targeting a full 60.8% jump to 38.6k BOPD (compared to only 24k in 2013), with yearly average forecast to climb to 45k BOPD as the terminal, which started receiving third-party transloading volumes last month to supplement the JV workload, will be taking on even more third-party volumes as things progress.
The Pioneer Project expansion of the company's Mountrail County, North Dakota facility has not only further cemented DAKP's transloading presence in this thriving E&P region, which has over 15k development wells expected to be drilled within just 25 miles of the terminal, the new UNIMIN frac sand automated terminal (set to be completed this May) portion of the project makes DAKP an extremely attractive choice from the operator's standpoint when it comes to picking a service provider. These underlying fundamentals are huge for DAKP and they stand to win over many operators in the region as a vendor of choice for their transloading needs. With over 750k tons/year capacity, the new frac sand terminal will have 8k tons of storage capacity and four new ladder tracks, a setup so good they have already begun interim operations, with full sand rail cars on-site and direct truck transloading slated within the next few weeks.
CEO of DAKP, Craig McKenzie, clearly proud of the significant growth of both the company's operational capacity in this E&P hot spot, as well as the value proposition for shareholders, emphasized record-breaking throughput volumes and the new UNIMIN frac sand terminal as key aspects of DAKP's true value. McKenzie pledged to keep pace with Bakken development by responding aggressively to demand with the best, most advanced transloading facilities possible for outbound and inbound customers, confident in the knowledge that satisfying both off-take and supplier customers with premium service as the company's operations continue to ramp up through 2014, will ultimately translate directly into an improved bottom line for DAKP shareholders.
Similarly, the Prairie Field Services trucking JV expansion, which saw the fleet jump to 29 trucks in order to accommodate all this volume, is extremely bullish for DAKP's operations and they are currently doing about 21k BOPD with the trucks. The company is currently applying for DAKP to be listed on a national stock exchange as soon as Q2 this year and investors should keep a close eye on Dakota Plains moving forward here for updates to this effect. With a blanket 80k BOPD capacity in the newly upgraded terminal and the UNIMIN frac sand operations coming along nicely, DAKP now offers Bakken developers a nearby rail terminal that utilizes high safety standards and the best modern equipment.
For more information on Dakota Plains Holdings, visit DakotaPlains.com