Oil rush in North Dakota? (Fargo, Bismarck: mineral rights, apartments, power lines)

[mahler3]

How does the discovery of such a large oil deposit affect the state? I currently live in Bismarck - just wondering what, if anything, to expect...

[recycled]

It's not a recent "discovery". The large oil shale region has been known for several decades, it just took $100+ per barrel oil to cause some geologists and drillers to get excited about the risks of spending up to $50 per barrel to actually get the stuff out of the ground. It's not a simple task of drilling down and down until a bunch of crude shoots out of the ground. With the shale, it's a rather thin layer about a mile below the surface that requires not only drilling down a mile, it also need a horizontal path drilled to shoot heated water into the shale at a certain angle to release the oil. Lots of high tech instruments needed to hit it just right or they spend a small fortune on a dry hole.

[chester]

Like recylced said, this is not a new find. With the high prices of oil and new technologies to recover oil from the Bakken formation in the Williston Basin, this rush has been going on for a couple years now. You can see the the frenzied growth in towns like Williston, Sidney, Tioga, Stanley, etc.. Lots of new housing and commercial construction (unfortunately, not retail and restaraunt so much...which they really need) But lots of new faces, traffic, new houses, apartments, subdivisions, etc... etc... plans for new power lines to service these fields...on and on. Will they build skyscrapers in Bismarck or Minot with Oil companies moving their national headquarters to ND...no...that will not happen. It will be like the last boom in the 80's. Just lots of traffic and new people looking for good paying jobs, and people scrambling to find housing, etc... That is actually happening now.

[Roloff1976]

I had heard at one time that HESS was moving their state headquarters to Minot. But, also heard from someone working at HESS that said those plans are being changed a bit. They are keeping the Williston office, but are building a nice new office complex in Tioga. The Williston people working for HESS in Tioga will take a shuttle if they want. Minot will still get the state Headquarters, but it will be a small office...strictly for admin. It sounds like the people working in both Williston and Tioga want to stay put. So Minot is still benefiting from the boom as well. They have a couple new oil service companies that have moved to town. One is pretty controversial, as the city's Majic Fund is assisting them $600,000 in their majic fund moeny to help them set up shop. Which many Minot citizens are angry about. I don't blame the citizens of Minot on this one. There should not be any oil companies out there needing towns to pay them to come in...unless the town is that desperate for business. I think Minot opened up a pandora's box on this one. Now where do they draw the line and anyone who wants to open up a shop or service company in Minot is going to expect the city of Minot to pay them to come in. Oh well...whats done is done.

[Roloff1976]

I think it will be similar to the boom in the 70's and 80's like Chester said. I've been up to the Williston area and it is very busy. I think Minot and Bismarck will benefit from the companies that need to fly in, stay in hotels, rent rantal cars, etc... also, since Minot is on the eastern edge, it will benefit like some of the towns like Stanley, who are seeing shops and service companies opening up shops. But you do see most of the service and energy companies building and opening up their new shops in Williston, Dickinson & Sidney, MT. Especially since they are smack in the middle of the whole boom.

[Roloff1976]

The link below takes you to the Fargo Forum editorials. It is an interesting editorial on the oil boom. (you may need to copy and paste the link)

http://marcilgroup.com/files/Potenti...%204.16.08.pdf

[MikeyToo]

Originally Posted by Roloff1976

The link below takes you to the Fargo Forum editorials. It is an interesting editorial on the oil boom. (you may need to copy and paste the link)

http://marcilgroup.com/files/Potenti...%204.16.08.pdf

That was interesting Roloff. Thanks for the link!!!.....

[Clay Lady]

I have been wondering what the local people thought about the big discovery. I heard one well was bringing in $50,000 a day. That amount of income could make some people either very happy - or very sad if you don't own any mineral rights!!

AND WHY!!!! would anybody financially assist any oil company coming into a town????

[Roloff1976]

Clay Lady. The people in Williston are used to the boom and bust cycle of the oil industry. 1/3 of the people in Williston are probably working for an energy company in one way or another, and since it has been an oil town for nearly 58 years now, they are used to the ups and downs, the new faces coming and going, the "rich one day, and broke the next", etc... etc... But the locals are very proud of this industry that impacts their community. And are happy for others when some strike it big. I think people from outside the energy communities are the ones who are the most intrigued by it all. The rest of them like Williston, Sidney, Dickinson, Tioga, Watford, Killdeer, Bowman, etc... are just used to all the hoopla. But especially riding high right now.

[Cain]

My only thing is hopefully they build some other industry in those oil rich areas so that when the spigot stops for whatever reason, they don't go ghost town. Putting all your eggs into one basket (this case industry) is just asking for trouble.