Oil rush in North Dakota?

[roundball]

The price of oil is about half of what it was not to long ago. How does it, or when does it affect drilling out West?

[Trudy Rose]

I think with the oil $ falling, many will give up on domestic drilling...then the $ will go up and they'll start again !! And nothing will ever really get done...

[Roloff1976]

Baker Hughes tracks domestic oil drilling in North America. They post the number of rigs drilling weekly. North Dakota gained 9 new drilling rigs this week...so even though the oil prices have been cut in half, drilling in ND is still going strong.

[tsalute]

I own property in New Town, ND and have the mineral rights. A company recently approached me with a surface agrrement. What is fair compensation for surface use agreements? We are also in a lease agreement with them until 2010 for 13%. Is 13% a good percentage for royalties? The way I understand it, since we have an active lease, is that they can drill with out me signing the surface agreement.

The surface agreement seems pretty straight forward. Should I get a lawyer to help?

What can I expect from an oil well in New Town?

[magiccity]

Not to worry. Already there is a world demand for potash, which is located in the north west section of ND. With Williston the largest town in that area, it may see another type of influx.

[chester]

I know the price of oil has plummeted, and the oil patch in ND has slowed down quite a bit...but i am still impressed that the slowdown has not had as big of an impact as some have suggested. I was up in Williston, and there are still new oil field companies opening up new shops, even though many drillers have been layed off. I also read where they are looking to build some sort of Energy Center between Williston and Sidney that would include an oil refinery, deisel refinery, Ethanol plant, Power plant and a possible coal to fuel type plant. With all the construction still going on in williston, I'm guessing many involved in the oil industry are thinking this slow down is more temporary than permanent?

[Roloff1976]

I was reading the Williston Herald Sunday paper, and saw where 2 more oil services companies were advertising for help in their new Williston offices. Casehole Solutions and I can't remember the other one. So things must still be going pretty good up there? I noticed the new job figures for February of 2009 jumped another 450+ from the previous month(2,400 higher than February of 2008), and unemployment is still sitting at 2.2% for Williams county, where most of the other counties in North Dakota are in the 4.0+. You still are doing pretty good Williston considering what is happening in the rest of the country.

[catfishing]

Originally Posted by Roloff1976

I was reading the Williston Herald Sunday paper, and saw where 2 more oil services companies were advertising for help in their new Williston offices. Casehole Solutions and I can't remember the other one. So things must still be going pretty good up there? I noticed the new job figures for February of 2009 jumped another 450+ from the previous month(2,400 higher than February of 2008), and unemployment is still sitting at 2.2% for Williams county, where most of the other counties in North Dakota are in the 4.0+. You still are doing pretty good Williston considering what is happening in the rest of the country.

I got laid off from Sanjel 2 months ago and am looking for work. Can you find out who's hiring up there? I've got a class A CDL and two years experience with frac and cementing equipment.

[Roloff1976]

catsifhing...here is the link to the oilfield job listings in Williston as of March 30th, 2009. Some may not be right in Williston, but in that area of ND.

http://www.willistonlife.com/usrfile...ws/0330092.pdf