Hess Corp. will form a tax-advantaged MLP to hold its pipelines, trucking, storage and processing facilities in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale region.

The New York-based company expects to make an IPO of common units in the partnership in the first quarter of 2015, Hess said in a statement July 30. Hess will continue to control the assets by owning the general partner of the new entity after the IPO.

Hess has sold or agreed to sell about $10.5 billion of assets, including its U.S. retail gasoline stations, to focus on exploration and production after a proxy fight last year with activist investor Elliott Management Corp. The company agreed to “monetize” its Bakken assets in a settlement with its largest investor.

Creating a partnership for the unit would reduce the tax burden for the assets, since MLPs don’t pay federal income tax. Hess is the latest to propose forming such a partnership, known as an MLP, as companies seek ways to cut the 35% corporate U.S. tax rate.

The new partnership will include a natural gas processing plant in Tioga, N.D., as well as railcars and a loading facility for transporting oil from the region. It will also have a propane facility in Mentor, Minn.

Production from its Bakken fields in North Dakota rose 25% to the equivalent of 80,000 barrels per day of oil in the second quarter, Hess said July 30 in a separate statement.

The company reported adjusted per-share profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates. Hess rose 5.6% to $104.94 at 8:27 a.m., before the start of regular trading in New York on July 30.