Week 22: May 26, 2013 - June 1, 2013

Bakken operations
Huge Statoil IPs; imagine what the company could do with a sense of urgency
Surge cancels permits in northwest North Dakota
Statoil's Pyramid wells northwest of Williston released from confidential status
Relative over-supply of Bakken oil leads to widest WTI/Bakken spread this year
Two new oil fields in the Williston Basin? The Alexandria and the Sioux Trail
Magellan eyes EOR project west of Williston
Filloon updates the lower benches of the Three Forks

Other formations
More drilling in Bowman County forecast

CBR
Rail is here to stay; "the track is back"; Kinder Morgan cancels $2 billion Permian-to-California pipeine

Pipelines
MDU subsidiary to invest $700 million in natural gas pipeline
Bakken operators are switching back to pipeline

Bragging rights
Texas is #1 in production; North Dakota is #1 in year-over-year production increase; everything in life is relative
North Dakota recognized for permanent economic growth, a first for the state

Economic development
Buffalo Wings opens in Williston
North Dakota's taxable sales and purchases sets record; Williston again surpasses Fargo
A tipping point for the transformation of North Dakota's economy?
Minot's motel/hotel occupancy rate down to 57%
How much is a 26-car parking lot in Williston worth? Way more than $16 million
Hyatt House Minot opens -- a first for North Dakota
Random update of the labor force statistics for North Dakota
US Environmental Services sets up shop in Dickinson
Airline boardings hit a new record in the Bakken oil patch
Housing market is changing in the Bakken; from temporary to permanent

Miscellaneous
Comparison of wind farms construction costs: $3 million/MW in North Dakota; $6 million/MW offshore; by the way, if those figures are accurate, that's no bargain in North Dakota either; wind/solar projects should be $1 to $1.5 million/MW