Daily Times

The “Dakota Access” Pipeline (DAPL) is a $3.8 billion, 1,100 mile fracked-oil pipeline that is currently under construction running from the Bakken shale fields of North Dakota to Peoria, Illinois. DAPL is slated to cross Lakota Treaty Territory at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation where it would be laid underneath the Missouri River, the longest river on the continent. Construction of the DAPL would impact many sites that are sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux and numerous other indigenous nations. DAPL would also, engender a renewed fracking-frenzy in the Bakken shale region, as well as endanger a source of fresh water for the Standing Rock Sioux and 8 million people living downstream.

This massive infrastructure project is being built and financed by a complex network of dozens of shady oil companies and banks with presences all over the world. Research into the pipeline’s ownership shows us that virtually every major bank in the world is financially connected to the companies involved in the project and numerous oil and gas companies will have ownership interests in the project. But who is driving the construction of the pipeline, and more importantly who has the power to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline?

The Ownership Interest: The Dakota Access Pipeline project is owned by a convoluted network of oil and pipeline companies, joint ventures, and holding companies. Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners and its wholly-owned subsidiary Sunoco Logistics (ETP/SLX) currently own 38.25% of the pipeline; MarEn Bakken Company LLC, a joint venture between Enbridge Energy Partners and Marathon Petroleum Company owns 36.75% of the pipeline (ultimately Enbridge and Marathon hold 27.6% and 9.1% ownership interests in the pipeline); and a subsidiary of Phillips 66 owns the remaining 25% of the project. Energy Transfer Partners is overseeing the construction of the pipeline and if the Dakota Access Pipeline were to be completed completed Sunoco Logistics would take over as the operator of the pipeline.

As the company with, by far, the largest ownership interest and the company overseeing the construction and the theoretical operation of the pipeline Energy Transfer Partners is clearly responsible for driving this destructive project and the player in the best position to bring it to a halt.

Energy Transfer Partners is itself a complicated company. It’s actually three different companies-Energy Transfer Partners, Energy Transfer Equity, and Sunoco Logistics-that are controlled by a single general partnership company. While it is publicly traded it is relatively tightly held and controlled by a small group of key investors led by the flamboyant billionaire Kelcy Warren. In addition to his love of making money and destroying the earth Warren also owns a record label, Music Road Records, and he fancies himself as a major philanthropist. He’s a regular at the major gala dinners around his hometown of Dallas, TX and he even paid $10 million to name a park in downtown Dallas after his son Klyde.

The Money Behind the Pipeline: The oil companies behind the pipeline are rich, but they aren’t rich enough to shell out the $3.8 billion needed to build the pipeline on their own. While each of the companies involved holds lines of credit with numerous banks and financial institutions, the money that is ear marked specifically for the project is a $2.5 billion project finance loan. The loan, which closed on August 2, 2016 was coordinated by Citibank along with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Mizuho Bank and TD Securities. The interesting piece of this loan is that under the credit agreement the borrowers could only access $1.1 billion immediately. The other $1.4 billion would not become available until the pipeline received the appropriate permits.

As of the closing of the loan agreement $860.7 million of that original $1.1 billion had already been borrowed. If Citibank, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Mizuho Bank and TD Securities were to hold back remaining $1.4 billion the cash for the pipeline could dry up and the project could come grinding to a potentially permanent halt.