Located on a 4.5-mile private rail spur controlled by Dakota Gold under a long-term lease, the Plaza Terminal will serve production from the Bakken and Three Forks shale plays. The terminal is located on a 350-acre site in Mountrail County, North Dakota, near the town of Plaza. The state-of-the-art facility will be served by the Canadian Pacific Railway and will aggregate crude oil produced in Mountrail and neighboring counties via gathering pipelines and trucks. Outbound service will be provided via rail and pipeline. Dakota Gold’s objective is to create a logistics hub at the Plaza site with significant takeaway capacity that provides customers with flexible access to premium crude oil markets.
The rail facility will have a throughput capacity of 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) and storage capacity of more than 300,000 barrels, with expansion to 600,000 barrels during a planned second phase. The terminal’s design includes two loop tracks with an additional spur for train storage, a covered loading barn, a 14-arm system capable of loading a unit train in approximately 14 hours, 15 truck unloading bays, and three 103,000-barrel storage tanks.
Dakota Gold is currently working with various midstream companies to develop gathering connections to the Plaza Terminal. Dakota Gold is also in discussions with various pipeline companies to develop outbound pipeline service from the Plaza Terminal to multiple pipeline markets.
Initial truck-to-rail transload service may begin approximately 90 days after construction begins, with storage and high-speed rail loading service expected to follow.