Man-camp, Watford City
The Bakken activity is moving to northeastern McKenzie County, between Alexander and Watford City.
Best part of the photo above: note all the open land.
Bakken oil pad, North Dakota.
A random photo of an oil pad in North Dakota. All photos on this page sent to me by Kent.
Bakken oil pad, North Dakota.
So you think there's not much drilling left? This is a one-well pad. The move is toward 3-, 6- and 8-well pads in the Bakken.
Oh my God! There's so much drilling going on. Soon there won't be any open prairie left. Sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly.
DeleteI flew over the area yesterday and the part that absolutely amazes me is how little of the land has been drilled. We flew from Watford City to Minot over New Town, yes, there is activity, but if there is going to be a well every 2 square miles in the Bakken, they haven't even started the process. Obviously some areas such as this by Watford is more pristine and oil wells due damage, but you get north of the lake where its crop and pasture land, the oil wells fit in.
ReplyDeleteI'll be long dead by the time the Williston Basin is completely drilled out, but if I was a legislator with grandchildren to whom I wanted to leave a beautiful North Dakota with/despite all the wells, I would be working with some smart, clever, landscape artists/biologists to come up with guidelines for oil pads: minimum standards for maintaining them, having them blend in.
DeleteMy brother works in the Watford City area... Started on the rigs and now drives a treatment truck... He talks all the time about the overflow of people in his area, and the lack of new drilling... You know the oil companies are held to pretty strict guidelines and the governments isn't encouraging drilling, their making it harder... I'm a tree huger and even I think we should drill more and complain less... We do a lot less damage drilling in America then they do in other areas of the world, all the red tape sees to that... It's a shame we're not willing to use what we have here while developing a plan b rather then acting all high and mighty about it...
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%. The good news is that "no new drilling" is all relative. I see today there are 205 active drilling rigs in North Dakota today, just two short of the all-time record of 207. And with the constraints on infrastructure, I'm not so sure that we need more drilling at this point in the Bakken. Perhaps a little more activity in Dickinson area would be nice.
DeleteMY brother lives in Watford, he started there about 8 or 9 years ago working on the oil rigs, he now drives a treatment truck. Says the place is over flowing with people because of all the jobs available in the area... It's frustrating that there's all that oil there and so much government red tape holding the drilling back... We should use what we have here in the states while working on a plan B for our great grand kids... And this is coming from a tree huger! :0) If we're going to pay some one else to bring it up and deliver it to us, why not have our own people working in good jobs to get it to us... We do a lot less harm when we drill to the environment then many other countries... Geez politicians never have been blessed with common sense though, have they?!
ReplyDeleteI just came back from visiting my husband in Watford. He is an electrician working in Williston. I have to say, that place is crazy!! It really seems like the wild wild west except there driving puck up trucks instead of horses. If it keeps on the way it's going, we are looking to buy land there and move the family. Housing market fell out in Georgia so we have to follow the money!
ReplyDeleteWatford city and the area is very, very interesting.
DeleteI just wish the people who are working here would stop complaining that there isn't anything to do. I'm sorry, no one invited you to our state; you can leave whenever.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%. People who can't find something to do need to a) read; b) blog; c) hike; d) fish; e) take up photography; f) take up cooking; g) take up baking; h) write a novel; i) research mosquito eradication; j) buy a small plot of land and build a house; k) attend local sporting events; l) take a motorcycle riding safety course and learn to ride; m) take a weekend trip to the Black Hills; n) take a weekend trip to Regina; o) take up painting; p) stock shelves at the Economart after midnight; q) take up guitar lessons; r) host a movie marathon (beverages, popcorn, pizza); s) visit Bethel Home for the aged and play cards with those who may be just as bored; t) set up a bird feeding station; u) work out -- get tight body; v) train for a marathon; w) restore something; x) make a list of gifts for families and friends; y) start a Lego collection; z) learn to rollerblade.
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