By now, the oil boom in North Dakota and Montana might not seem like anything new to GOMC readers — but by the end of last year, benefits of the Bakken had just started hitting mainstream media. Money. Jobs. Wealth. Drugs. As with any region that grows fast, the good, the bad and the ugly are sure to follow.
According to a 2013 article in The Fiscal Times, the population in North Dakota’s oil-producing region is expected to climb 50 percent in the next 20 years. But despite some of the negatives (isolation, drug use, job scarcity outside the oilfields), there are still plenty of reasons engineers, field workers and their families are flockin’ to the Bakken.
If you haven’t taken advantage of the Bakken boom yet, here’s a look at the top three reasons not to miss out on the action:
1. Efficiencies are up. According to Ingrid Pan, senior energy analyst with MarketRealist.com, “One positive trend in the region is that as operators spend more time in the play, they are able to realize efficiencies and spend less capital to achieve the same amount of production.”
One driver of this increase has been multi-pad drilling — drilling more than one well at a prepared site. “With new technology they can drill multiple wells on one site,” Pan says, as well as drill in multiple directions. Because of this, a company doesn’t necessarily have to operate as many rigs.
2. Costs are down. With increased efficiencies, Pan says, most Bakken operators have been able to drive down well costs over the past few years. According to the U.S. Energy Administration, the Bakken will provide one million barrels per day by the end of 2014; that number is expected to grow incrementally.
3. Improved infrastructure. Specifically in the Bakken, the region has developed so fast that it has taken the infrastructure of the surrounding region some time to catch up. Pan says infrastructure is getting better in terms of road building and housing creation and other amenities. “However, the region is still in the process of rapidly trying to catch up,” she says. “These things are constantly evolving.”
Local businesses, such as fast-food restaurants, are offering jobs at $11 to $15 per hour, plus signing bonuses, to attract workers. While the area might be ripe for jobs in some venues, Pan admits the region still has difficulty attracting people.
“It’s in the middle of North Dakota; it’s not attractive for all people,” she says. This is especially true in the middle of a winter flush with a biting cold polar vortex sweeping through most of the Northern U.S.
