06 June, 2017
The pipeline spans more than a thousand miles from North Dakota to IL, and cost some $3.8 billion to construct.
The oil will flow from the Bakken/Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to a storage and terminal hub outside Patoka, IL and/or down to additional terminals in Nederland, TX, the firm said.
Dakota Access and the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline from IL to the Gulf Coast make up the Bakken Pipeline system.
The pipeline is a joint venture with Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum and Houston-based Enbridge Energy Partners and Phillips 66.
Energy Transfer Partners is set to face the North Dakota Public Service Commission over the amount of trees and bushes removed during construction of the pipe, as well as if workers disturbed any Native American artifacts.
"The pipeline will transport light, sweet crude oil from North Dakota to major refining markets in a more direct, cost-effective, safer and more environmentally responsible manner than other modes of transportation, including rail or truck", the company said in a statement.
Full operations are underway on the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The pipeline took years to complete and has faced backlash from former President Barack Obama and environmental activists. Several Native American tribes also said the pipeline would destroy burial and prayer sites as well as culturally significant artifacts.
The Dakota Access and ETCO pipeline systems have commitments that include shipper flexibility and walk-up, for about 520,000 barrels per day.
In March, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., denied a request by the Sioux nation to order an emergency injunction preventing the pipeline from becoming operational.
The pipeline crosses a number of bodies of water, including the Missouri River, which is the main drinking water source for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Fortunately, no waterways were affected in the incidents.