As more oil companies establish wells in the Bakken, railroads stand to transport more inbound carloads of frac sand, drilling pipe and other materials used to build wells or horizontally drill. And as more crude oil is extracted, the roads figure to transport lots of it to refineries and other end users thousands of miles away in the Gulf Coast, California, Oklahoma or points in Canada.
Rail transport is significantly cheaper than truck and more flexible than pipelines to move crude long distances, and an economical way to deliver inbound materials, so it's starting to become oil producers' mode of choice.
By 2011's end, about 1,800 new wells — each requiring 23 carloads of rail-delivered materials during construction — are projected to join the thousands already operating in the Bakken. At 2010's end, daily production had exceeded 300,000 barrels, outstripping available transportation capacity and hastening the need for more rail infrastructure.
Reports of record-breaking oil wells coming online in the prolific Bakken formation may not eliminate the sting of $4 gas. But at least there’s some satisfaction knowing the domestic oil industry is working to quench the nation’s huge thirst for energy.I remain inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken.
And unless oil prices suddenly plummet — something industry experts don’t expect anytime soon — drilling in Eastern Montana and western North Dakota is expected to continue at a brisk pace.
Brigham Exploration of Austin, Texas, has announced that a recently completed North Dakota well, known as Sorenson 29-32 #2H, produced a record 5,330 barrels of oil equivalent (a mixture of natural gas and oil) during a 24-hour test.
In Montana, Brigham Energy’s Johnson 30-19#1H well 12 miles northest of Fairview in Richland County produced 2,962 barrels during its 24-hour test, also a record.
Continued energy development fueled Watford City’s and McKenzie County’s economic growth in 2010 as taxable sales and purchases in McKenzie County and Watford City grew by nearly 50 percent during the 2010 calendar year according to the figures released by the office of the North Dakota Tax Commissioner.Compare with earlier story on North Dakota's taxable sales in 2010, statewide, Fargo (#1) and Williston (#2).
According to the recent report by North Dakota Tax Commissioner Cory Fong, McKenzie County’s taxable sales and purchases during calendar year 2010 totalled $78,060,687 compared to $52,412,321 during 2009, an increase of 48.94 percent.
Watford City’s taxable sales and purchases during 2010 were up 49.08 percent over 2009 sales increasing from $47,653,892 in 2009 to $71,041,443 in 2010.
Cape Wind’s attempt to win a US Department of Energy loan guarantee has been placed on hold, in a setback to efforts by the nation’s first offshore wind farm to secure financing.And so it goes.
In a letter sent this week, the department said that with the multibillion dollar loan program’s September expiration date approaching, remaining funds would be used on projects whose applications were further along.
“This is not a statement about the quality of your project, but simply about its readiness to proceed at this time,’’ read the letter, sent to Cape Wind and other applicants whose projects were placed on hold.
Knife River Corporation announced plans today to open a Western North Dakota Division with full aggregate, ready-mix, asphalt and concrete construction services. Headquartered in Williston, division employees will perform private and public work throughout western North Dakota and eastern Montana.This was announced on April 11; a couple days later there was an article detailing the amount of money flowing to the oil patch in North Dakota. Perhaps the most amount of money ever appropriated for road construction and maintenance has been earmarked for the Bakken: $610 million plus another $100 million for other oi-related impact projects over the next two years.
The office and all production equipment will be situated on property in north Williston, with plans to have full ready-mix operations available by early May. A spokesman said that when North Dakota's spring road restrictions lift, an asphalt plant transferred from Knife River's Boise, Idaho, operations will be permanently placed. Knife River already has secured a paving contract with the city of Williston.For investors, despite all the volatility of the stock market recently, MDU has held its own very, very nicely and continues to pay a respectable dividend.