Dakota Prairie Refining prepares finishing touches

Completion of MDU-Calumet project marks first US greenfield refinery in 30 years

BY MARNIE LAHTINEN

In late November, Bismarck-based Montana Dakota Utilities Resources and Indiana-based Calumet Specialty Products LP were finishing up the final touches on the first greenfield diesel refinery to be built in the United States in over three decades. Dakota Prairie Refining, located on 375 acres just four miles west of Dickinson, N.D., is expected to help meet demand by refining locally sourced Bakken crude into diesel fuel for oilfield operations.

Construction remained on schedule in mid-November, according to Tim Rasmussen, operating company public relations manager at MDU Resources. “The plant now has a heartbeat,” he says. “We started up the boiler in late October to produce steam for some of the installed plant components … as of November, we were 94 percent complete with construction.”

The plant is slated to start accepting shipments of crude oil on Dec. 1.

Dakota Prairie Refining will be capable of processing 20,000 b/d (barrels per day) of Bakken crude to produce 7,000 b/d of diesel fuel. This production is equal to approximately 40-50 tankers of diesel fuel per day. The plant will also produce a similar amount of naptha and atmospheric bottoms (ATBs) which will be shipped by rail to other facilities for use or