TULSA, Okla., Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ONEOK Partners, L.P. (NYSE: OKS) today announced that its new 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) natural gas processing facility in eastern McKenzie County in North Dakota - the Garden Creek Plant - is now operational and serving producers in the Bakken Shale region.

"The Garden Creek plant is the latest example of ONEOK Partners' ongoing commitment to bring much needed natural gas gathering and processing infrastructure to the highly productive Bakken Shale region," said Terry K. Spencer, ONEOK Partners president. "The completion of this facility is a positive step toward reducing flaring activities in North Dakota and provides producers with increased natural gas processing capacity for their product."

ONEOK Partners previously announced plans to invest approximately $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion for growth projects in the Bakken Shale between now and 2014 in its natural gas gathering and processing and natural gas liquids (NGL) businesses. In addition to the Garden Creek plant, these investments include the construction of the Bakken Pipeline, an approximately 500-mile NGL pipeline and two additional 100 MMcf/d natural gas processing facilities - the Stateline I and Stateline II plants in western Williams County, N.D.

The Bakken Pipeline is expected to be completed by the first half of 2013, and the Stateline I and Stateline II plants are expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2012 and the first half of 2013, respectively.

ONEOK Partners is the largest independent operator of natural gas gathering and processing facilities in the Williston Basin, with a natural gas gathering system of more than 3,500 miles and acreage dedications of more than 1.9 million acres.

ONEOK Partners, L.P. (NYSE: OKS) is one of the largest publicly traded master limited partnerships, and is a leader in the gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas in the U.S. and owns one of the nation's premier natural gas liquids (NGL) systems, connecting NGL supply in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions with key market centers. Its general partner is a wholly owned subsidiary of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE: OKE), a diversified energy company, which owns 42.8 percent of the overall partnership interest. ONEOK is one of the largest natural gas distributors in the United States, and its energy services operation focuses primarily on marketing natural gas and related services throughout the U.S.

For more information, visit the website at www.oneokpartners.com.

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Some of the statements contained and incorporated in this news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act, as amended. The forward-looking statements relate to our anticipated financial performance, management's plans and objectives for our future operations, our business prospects, the outcome of regulatory and legal proceedings, market conditions and other matters. We make these forward-looking statements in reliance on the safe harbor protections provided under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following discussion is intended to identify important factors that could cause future outcomes to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements include the items identified in the preceding paragraph, the information concerning possible or assumed future results of our operations and other statements contained or incorporated in this news release identified by words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," "should," "goal," "forecast," "guidance," "could," "may," "continue," "might," "potential," "scheduled" and other words and terms of similar meaning.

The forward looking statements in this news release relating to the estimated costs and completion schedules as well as anticipated EBITDA levels with respect to the referenced growth construction projects are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual project costs and completion schedules and associated EBITDA levels to be materially different from those included in the forward looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, timely receipt of necessary governmental approvals and permits, our ability to control the costs of construction, including costs of materials, labor and right-of-way and other factors that may impact our ability to complete these projects within budget and on schedule.

Analyst Contact: Andrew Ziola
918-588-7163
Media Contact: Brad Borror
918-588-7582

SOURCE ONEOK Partners, L.P.