Are Movers and Shakers Missing an Opportunity of a Lifetime? -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

The Bismarck-Mandan Development Association (BMDA) held its annual meeting last week, Thursday, February 16, 2011.

Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources, was the keynote speaker.

This is the synopsis of Harold Hamm's remarks made at the meeting:

The magnitude of the current oil play, quite frankly, is staggering.  Mr. Hamm made it very clear that this is not a short two or three year oil boom and then a big bust.  His projections would see drilling activities continuing in excess of 20 years, followed by years of supporting production activities.  Mr. Hamm suggested that there will be some 48,000 wells drilled in North Dakota’s western oil patch in that period of time. In his remarks, Mr. Hamm encouraged people to think in the long term related to the investments which will be made in the State of North Dakota.  In a large part to date, there has been a strong reservation by both the public and private sectors to make some of the infrastructure investments which are critical to the long term growth of the oil and gas industry in North Dakota.  Many still carry the memories of the boom and bust of past oil plays in North Dakota.  Based on Mr. Hamm’s assessments and those of others, it would appear oil development will be a serious part of the North Dakota’s future economy and a major part of this country’s search for independence from foreign oil.

(The conclusion expressed in the last sentence seems to be somewhat of an understatement. Is there a suggestion of ambivalence by the writer? Does the writer represent the Association?)

The BMDA is not the first to use the adjective "staggering" in describing what is going on in western North Dakota. I used that adjective back in March, 2010, after reading the Bakken report in the February 26, 2010 - March 4, 2010, issue of the Rocky Mountain Oil Journal.  

Mr Hamm is not alone in his opinion. The "Basic Analysis of the Bakken" (also linked on the sidebar at the right) written by North Dakota academic experts, says that drilling will continue through 2030 and production will continue through 2100.

Events in the Mideast the past few weeks suggest that the issue of access to oil is not going to go away any time soon.

You can view the PowerPoint presentation made by Harold Hamm to link to the BMDA if you follow the link above (same one here).

When one reads the synopsis above, and reviews Mr Hamm's slide presentation, one almost gets the feeling that there are concerns in the oil patch that a lack of strategic thinking and action by the movers and shakers in North Dakota could result in a less then optimum outcome with regard to future Bakken development. 

Maybe I'm reading too much into the presentation, but I do get a feeling that Mr Hamm sees an urgency others are not seeing. Or an opportunity.

Maybe that would be a better way to end this: I get a feeling that Mr Hamm sees an opportunity for North Dakota that others may not be seeing.