I opined that this was not the best place for such a distribution center.
I was wrong.
Some random thoughts explaining why I was wrong. I'm too far behind in blogging to put the data points in a coherent narrative.
- rail is all important; both Williston and Dickinson have rail; Watford City area does not
- price of land around Williston has priced itself out of the market
- Williston is way too overbuilt; time for new operations to move elsewhere
- once proppants brought to North Dakota, distance not that big a deal (+/-; debatable)
This morning I also posted a rambling piece on state and county officials behind the proverbial "8 ball" in planning for infrastructure needs for the Bakken boom once the USGS study came out, and again when Harold Hamm suggested much higher potential production. And that's what made me realize that my post about the CARBO proppant distribution center was wrong -- and the fact that several readers pointed out the error(s) of my ways.
Back in 2008 or 2010, if state and county leaders had had a crystal ball, one of their options would have been to advise spreading the oil service companies around the state rather than let Williston grow like it did. Williston took on too much; Dickinson was too conservative; Watford City not enough infrastructure in place; Minot underutilized (no one could have predicted the flood). I suppose, in hindsight that even Mandan/Bismarck could have been better utilized supporting the Bakken, but that might be a stretch.
So, a "tip of the hat" to the CARBO folks for looking at Dickinson and not the Williston area.
