GRAFTON (AP) - A spokesman for the Keystone pipeline project says crews are getting ready to lay pipe, possibly sometime next month, along the 220-mile route in eastern North Dakota.

"We do have some pipe moving along the right of way in the northern part of our stretch there in Cavalier County and working on down into Pembina County," spokesman Jeff Rauh said.

"We've got it stored in Milton and move it by truck out to the right of way, and move it along the right of way, so that it's ready to be bent and then welded and tested and eventually put in the ground," he said.

The welding could start in two weeks, Rauh said.

"Before it's placed in the ground, we've got to do the test of each of the welds - do the coating, check the coating, get enough pipe that we can get started lowering it in," he said. "We're still a little ways away from that step in the process."

More than 100 workers are based in the Grafton area and another crew is working out of Valley City, Rauh said.

"Both crews are working toward a total work force of about 400 to 450 apiece, for a total in North Dakota of about 1,000," he said.

The Keystone oil pipeline being developed by TransCanada Corp. of Calgary, Alberta, will carry Canadian crude oil from Alberta to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma.

The pipeline route is through eight eastern North Dakota counties. Workers hope to finish the North Dakota leg of the project late this fall.