A new oil refinery near Dickinson, ND is preparing to begin producing diesel fuel.
The $350 million Dakota Prairie Refinery received its first shipment of 27,000 barrels of crude last week, KXMB-TV reported. Once the plant is fully operational, it will process 20,000 barrels of crude each day into 7,000 barrels of diesel and other products. A barrel is 42 gallons.
The plant in the western North Dakota oil patch will refine crude produced within 50 miles, and a lot of the finished product will be sold locally, where demand is strong.
"There's no doubt we're going to have no problem selling our diesel fuel," Podratz said. "We're going through the process now of working with potential customers, getting credit lines established, those sorts of things."
Bismarck-based MDU Resources Group Inc. and Indianapolis-based Calumet Specialty Products Partners broke ground on the plant in March 2013. About 90 people will work there full time.
MDU is now exploring building a similar refinery at Minot. The only refinery operating in North Dakota is the Tesoro Corp. facility at Mandan. A $450 million refinery is in the works on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, and a Canadian company is considering a $200 million refinery at Devils Lake.
