Random Update on the Bakken on the Montana Side of the Border -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA

Link here to Big Sky Business Journal.

The development of the North Dakota Bakken has been dependent on technology changes that improved efficiencies, over how it was used when first applied in the Elm Coulee field in Montana.

The technological advances have almost completely eliminated the risk of dry holes. Montana’s Elm Coulee Field currently has about 750 producing Bakken oil wells; during the process of development, only two dry holes were drilled.

While it is commonly lamented that it is Montana’s tax system that has curtailed development in the state, while it booms in North Dakota, Richmond pointed out that in terms of the direct tax on oil extraction, Montana’s tax rate is actually 20 percent lower than North Dakota. Montana’s rate is 9.25 percent compared to North Dakota’s 11.5 percent.

Drilling rig count in Montana increased from nine last year to 13 in January 2012.