See allLatest Trade Alerts

Brokerage Partners

U.S. Oil Industry's Biggest Winners? Pipeline Builders

Written by: Frank Byrt 08/28/12 - 6:00 AM EDT
Tickers in this article: CLR OKE STO EEP TRP HES ENB
(TheStreet contributor Frank Byrt traveled to North Dakota to write a series on the domestic energy boom in that state.)

WILLISTON, N.D. (TheStreet) -- A daylong tour of North Dakota's Bakken oil shale region, the nation's fastest-growing oil field, makes it obvious that the greatest need here is for infrastructure of all kinds, but especially for pipelines to transport crude oil to refineries.

That lends itself to bright investment outlooks for three pipeline firms that are expanding rapidly to bring Bakken crude to market.

More Headlines

North Dakota, now the nation's fourth-largest onshore oil producer, is on pace to double its oil production by 2015 to more than 1 million barrels a day, which will soon vault it up those rankings and close to the leader, Texas.

Currently, about a quarter of North Dakota's daily oil production is shipped by rail, according to the state-run North Dakota Pipeline Authority. Truck hauling follows in terms of volume shipped, but that means oil is hauled great distances out of the region to rail service, where it is sent to Gulf Coast refineries.