2nd Annual Infrastructure Finance and Development Summit -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA -- Denver, CO -- October 24 - 26, 2011 -- Register Now

This blog has focused on the oil companies operating in the Bakken. A shortfall of the blog has been the lack of much information on companies working to provide the necessary infrastructure to support those oil companies.

In fact, someone just asked who was buying, hauling, and selling water in the Bakken, a question I could not answer. But those answers and more should be forthcoming at the 2nd Annual Bakken Infrastructure Finance and Development Summit, October 24 - 26, in Denver, Colorado.

You can register now at this site: http://www.infocastinc.com/index.php/conference/528.

One of the Williston coordinators of this conference, Amy Olson, tells me that you can get a 15% discount in registration fees if you register using this promotion code: 116650.

The pre-workshop agenda is on the first day of the event, October 24.

The actual summit will be held the following two days, October 25 - 26.

At the linked site, you can download the agenda.

Some highlights:

• The keynote speaker will be ND Governor Jack Dalrymple
• Current takeaway capacity, Rick Smead, Navigant Consulting
• A panel of experts on pipeline instructure, to include: MDU, TransCanada, Kinder Morgan, Enbridge, others
• A panel of consultants for venture capital investments: Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, Pine Brook Road Partners, MacQuarie Bank, Haddington Ventures, others
• Power (as in electricity, not political) issues, Cole Gustafson, North Dakota State University
• A case study on rail transloading facilities for crude oil by Watco Companies
• Panel discussion on outlook for trucking and oil-railing infrastructure, to include the vice president, chemical, Norfolk Southern Corporation
• A panel discussion on real estate opportunities

I did not see any agenda items related to the newly formed WAWS (water distribution authority in northwestern North Dakota) but something tells me there will be folks at the summit who will have some insight on the new project. 

My hunch is that the most valuable portion of this conference will be the networking. If one is serious about investment opportunities in the Bakken, this looks like a very good conference.

For me, the most exciting thing about the conference is its location: Denver, Colorado. It speaks volumes that the venue would be held where a number of oil companies that operate in the Bakken are located, but also where the financial institutions are that would provide the financing.

This has to be very, very exciting for those who have lived and worked the oil industry in the Williston Basin for the past 60 years (oil discovered in 1951).

This update and future updates will be linked at the sidebar at the right at the very top for easy access. If there are updates, I will let folks know. Again, I am being told that there is a 15% discount in on-line registration if you use the promo code noted above.

If anyone has any trouble registering, let me know, so I can let Amy know. Or phone the folks directly at (818) 888-4444.