Tesoro Logistics expands midstream asset base with $1.1 billion in deals

Tesoro Logistics LP has made $1.1 billion-worth in assets acquisitions in an effort to expand is midstream portfolio.

The firm has agreed to acquire crude oil, natural gas, and produced water gathering systems, and two natural gas processing facilities in North Dakota from Whiting Oil & Gas Corp., GBK Investments LLC, and WBI Energy Midstream LLC for $700 million.

In a separate deal, it has acquired terminalling and storage assets in Northern California from a subsidiary of Tesoro Corp. for $400 million.

The North Dakota gathering and processing assets include more than 650 miles of oil, gas, and produced water gathering pipelines, 170 MMcfd of gas processing capacity, and 18,700 b/d of fractionation capacity in Sanish and Pronghorn fields of the Williston basin.

The revenue from the assets is 90% fee-based and backed by acreage dedications from 10 producers. Tesoro says “the assets are well utilized based on current production levels and provide organic expansion opportunities that support continued drilling in existing well locations with attractive production economics.”

The deal is expected to close early in first-quarter 2017.

The Northern California terminalling and storage assets include 5.8 million bbl of crude oil, feedstock, and refined product storage capacity at Tesoro’s 166,000-b/d Golden Eagle refinery near Martinez, Calif., along with a marine terminal capable of handling up to 35,000 b/d of feedstock and refined product throughput.

In connection with the deal, Tesoro and TLLP entered into long-term, fee-based storage and throughput and use agreements.