Another #1 For North Dakota

This has nothing to do with the oil industry, but I enjoy North Dakota trivia.

As my regular readers know, I remind them periodically that among the 50 states, North Dakota is number one in honey production. California is number two, and the gap between North Dakota and California is wide and growing.

While driving around the Bakken this past weekend, I noted large herds of horses. I won't divulge my source, but suffice it to say that, again, among the 50 states, North Dakota is number one in Premarin production.

Actually, not only is North Dakota number one among the 50 states, North Dakota is the only state that I am aware of that produces Premarin.

Bakken Companies in Europe

Companies that pioneered horizontal drilling and fracturing technology are moving into Europe.

For newbies, this technology and horizontal drilling is referred to as "unconventional" oil plays, always in shale, as far as I know, although obviously they drill directionally off-shore.

I could be wrong (I usually am) but I think it was Marathon that pioneered horizontal drilling, along with one-stage fracturing. And I think they first did that here in North Dakota or eastern Montana. It seems just like yesterday that one-stage fracturing was all the rage; now the norm seems to be 12 fracturing stages per short lateral, 24 stages for long laterals.