The Williston Wire

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• More information continues to be revealed about how ripe the area northwest of Watford City is for oil production.  Lynn Helms, director of Mineral Resources for the North Dakota Industrial Commission says the Three Forks Well, which is in the Banks Field and owned by Tarpon Federal, is just one of two wells, northwest of Watford City, found to be mega-producers.

• Top 3 Bakken wells by IP rate in McKenzie County -- posted earlier.

• Mike Filloon argues that there is still room for significant inventory in the Bakken -- posted earlier.

• North Dakota still has lowest unemployment rate in the US. I never thought about this before, but even if one takes out the Bakken (which amounts to about six counties out of 53 North Dakota counties, it is pretty impressive that North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate. Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks, Devils Lake, all have to hold up their end of the deal if ND is to remain number one. Pretty impressive; it's not just the Bakken.

• Enbridge unveiled a new $160 million rail loading facility at Berthold -- previously posted.

• MDU to break ground on diesel refinery near Dickinson March 26, 2013.

• BLM office in Great Falls, MT, 450 miles from the Bakken is helpig ND NDIC review and approve permits.

• Retread tire business supporting the Bakken booms in Billings, MT.

• Fracking sand may be sourced from western South Dakota (Black Hills). The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

The Black Hills gold rush could turn into a latter-day sand rush aimed at the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota.

South Dakota is the latest of states that may turn its quartz sand deposits into cash just like it turned its hills into gold a century ago.

Millions of tons of sand are used in the Bakken every year to prop open deep hydraulic fractures to force oil to flow. All of that sand is imported by truck and train into the oil patch, where it’s huge business.

Cambrian Enterprises, of South Dakota, has registered silica sand mining claims in three counties encompassing Deadwood, Rapid City and Custer.

The company’s attorney, David Ganje, said the claims contain a conservative estimate of 80 million tons of silica sand.

“This is the closest known claim to the Bakken. I think this is an excellent idea for participating in the economic event called the Bakken,” Ganje said.