North Dakota has committed up to $500 million to backstop WBI Energy’s proposed Bakken East Pipeline, a project designed to move stranded natural gas from the Bakken Shale to eastern parts of the state. Once complete, the line would carry up to 1 Bcf/d and provide a new supply route for industrial, power, and residential demand.
Why It Matters
The project underscores two key dynamics shaping North Dakota’s energy market:
-
Bakken de-bottlenecking – Gas output in the Bakken continues to rise as wells age, but limited takeaway capacity threatens oil production. Bakken East would ease constraints and support continued upstream activity.
-
Eastern demand growth – Communities and industries in eastern North Dakota currently rely on the Viking pipeline. Bakken East would diversify supply, supporting power plants, new data centers, and future industrial projects.
Together, these themes show how state-backed infrastructure is being used to bridge gaps between production surpluses in the west and growing demand in the east.
What the Map Shows
In Rextag DataLink, the map highlights:
-
WBI Energy’s natural gas system in North Dakota – all operational pipelines plus under-development projects, including the Bakken East corridor.
-
Power plants (operational) – sized by capacity, showing existing demand centers across the state.
-
Data centers (operational) – emerging demand hubs aligned with North Dakota’s growing digital economy.
Together, the layers connect Bakken supply with current and future demand sources, showing how WBI’s system is positioned to serve both oil and gas development and regional power needs.
A Deeper Dive with DataLink
-
Use the Natural Gas Pipelines layer to view all WBI Energy infrastructure in North Dakota, including proposed Bakken East.
-
Overlay Power Plants and Data Centers to see the demand clusters the project is designed to serve.
-
Add the Bakken Shale boundary for context on where natural gas is being produced and why new takeaway is needed.
By exploring these layers together, users can see how WBI’s infrastructure network underpins both Bakken oil production and the growth of North Dakota’s power and technology sectors.
Want to see how Rextag’s Energy DataLink works for your team? Click Free Trial to get started, and one of our specialists will walk you through key datasets and workflows.
Throughout 2025, Rextag covered the energy industry’s most important ...
As hyperscalers push deeper into AI and cloud workloads, power availabil...
