Unlike the last boom in the Williston Basin in which little outside money was invested in infrastructure, this time it is completely different.
This is where the eastern attitude is starting to change and we are starting to get it: the activity in the Bakken is huge and it’s going to get bigger. I have been active in the Bakken for a couple of years, and I seem to be getting more and more involved with each passing day. So I am believer, but what is starting to change is other’s attitude towards investment in Western North Dakota. Not necessarily local investment but major capital investment into the Bakken. A colleague of mine who has many times mentioned the boom will again bust, has now taken a longer term view. The reason is due to outside investment.
Case in point: the facilities the oil companies are building. Baker Hughes is building 100,000 plus square feet buildings in Minot, Williston and Dickinson. Halliburton is building facilities throughout the state. The North Dakota Industrial Commission noted that $3 billion on natural gas compression plants are in the works for the next 2-3 years (note these are natural gas plants, not oil, but $3 billion investment for an item they previously flared off). Today the Minot Daily News did a story on the growth in the railroads ability to ship bulk oil out of state.
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