Hess has adjusted the company’s capital budget for 2012 and expects to spend an extra billion dollars on the Bakken play in the last half of the year. The company is facing higher costs on drilling and completion services and more infrastructure spending.I don't know about you, but to me, another billion dollars by one company going into the Bakken -- "basically" five or six counties in western North Dakota, sounds like a fairly huge chunk of change.
Due to high costs of completing wells, some operators are decreasing the number of rigs in the Bakken, but my hunch is that any decrease in activity in drilling is being offset by a) road construction, such as the truck reliever route; b) more pipelines; c) additional natural gas gathering and processing plants/pipeline; d) spending by oil service companies; e) housing; etc.
