Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB) said on Aug. 3 it had formed a joint venture (JV) with Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: MPC) to take a minority stake in a holding company that owns 75% of the Bakken Pipeline System.
Enbridge, through its subsidiary Enbridge Energy Partners LP (NYSE: EEP), will pay $1.5 billion for what will amount to a 27.6% stake in the pipeline system, which is set to carry oil from the Bakken region to Midwestern refineries and on to the Gulf Coast. Marathon will pay $500 million for its smaller share.
"This will provide our shippers the ultimate potential to reach the eastern USGC [U.S. Gulf Coast], which has been a strategic priority for us," Guy Jarvis, Enbridge's executive vice president for liquids pipelines, said in a statement.
The Bakken Pipeline System is made up of two pipeline projects—the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline—both of which are expected to be in service by year end.
The deal involves the Enbridge-Marathon JV paying $2 billion to Energy Transfer Partners LP (NYSE: ETP) and Sunoco Logistics Partners LP (NYSE: SXL) for a 49% stake in the holding company that owns 75% of the system.
Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) owns the remaining 25% of the Bakken Pipeline System. Once in operation, Sunoco Logistics will be the pipeline operator.
The all-cash deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016.