.D. Gov. Dalrymple boasts of gas processing momentum

An agreement from ONEOK Partners to build a natural gas processing plant in North Dakota helps the state reduce flaring, the state's governor said.

ONEOK announced plans to build a facility capable of processing as much as 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Natural gas associated with the vast shale oil deposits in the states is burned off, or flared, because of a lack of processing capabilities.

"The state has established an ambitious goal to capture 90 percent of all natural gas within six years and these types of investments by ONEOK and other leaders in the energy industry play a major role in meeting that goal," North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said in a statement Wednesday.

ONEOK said the plant should be completed by 2016 and cost as much as $785 million to build in the Bakken reserve area of the state.

Dalyrmple's office said the state has increased gas processing capacity from 200 million cubic feet per day to 1.3 billion cubic feet per day since 2006.

Terry Spencer, president and chief executive officer at ONEOK, said the plant positions his company at the heart of the U.S. shale narrative.

"The Demicks Lake plant and additional natural gas compression will increase our natural gas processing capacity in areas that continue to be developed aggressively by crude-oil and natural gas producers," he said in a statement.