Badlands NGLs LLC said Sept. 23 it has entered into an agreement with Continental Resources Inc. (CLR) for a long-term ethane supply to its North Dakota plastics project.

The project is a world-scale NGL sourced ethane gas to polyethylene (PE) manufacturing facility. It was originally announced by North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple and the North Dakota Industrial Commission in October 2014.

"We believe that by creating an indigenous demand for ethane in North Dakota, large ethane producers like Continental will realize increased 'net back' for their ethane," said William Jeffrey Gilliam, CEO of Badlands, in a statement.

"It's a great vote of confidence for our project that a highly respected company like Continental will be a supplier," he added.

During the past several weeks, Gilliam said Badlands has signed licensing agreements and finalized other agreements with both North Dakota and Western Canadian NGL sourced ethane feedstock suppliers. As a result, Badlands will increase the size of its planned North Dakota facility to 2 million annual metric tons (4.4 billion annual pounds) from 1.53 million annual metric tons of PE.