Conferences --

A reader reminded me of the 2nd Annual Bakken Infrastructure and Development Summit 2011 that is being held October 24 - 26 in Denver.

The list of attendees who have pre-registered is very, very impressive. I won't be there, for many, many reasons, but it looks like this may turn out to be one of premier Bakken conferences. So many of these conferences are about the oil business itself (if that makes sense) when many folks are looking at ways to support the oil industry.

Something tells me there will be venture capitalists there or folks with access to venture capitalists. It appears to me that the there is a shortage of well-educated highly motivated folks for all the opportunities that exist in the Bakken. As soon as these highly motivated, educated folks show up, they are snapped up and put to work.

It's incredible to look at the number of new buildings going up, businesses expanding, projects going up and realizing that these operations need all kinds of support folks. I can only assume that computer skills are critical for those applying for front-office jobs. I don't know, but I just get the feeling that companies working in the Bakken have as much trouble getting office help as they do getting field workers.

My hunch is that the dollars projected to be invested in the Bakken over the next several years will be staggering. I can hardly wait for folks to provide feedback from the conference.

Anyway, if you can't make this conference, there's another conference in Denver at the end of January, which I noted in an earlier post. That, too, is going to be quite a conference.