The Brits Continue To Follow The Bakken -- December 29, 2015

The [London] Guardian reports:

Mining layoffs hit the self-styled “legendary” state, with about 10,000 total jobs lost over the past 12 months ending in October, but the total unemployment rate in North Dakota is 2.8%, far below the 5% average nationwide.

Home to a large part of the Bakken oil field – one of the largest contiguous deposits of oil and natural gas in the United States – North Dakota is still riding the wave of the biggest oil boom in a generation.

Infrastructure construction for both the oil industry and for town improvements continues in south-west North Dakota where the Bakken oil field is located as projects that were fully funded before oil prices tanked are still being completed.

But if oil prices remain at the current six-year low of around $35 a barrel, 2016 could bring some pain. Low oil prices led Moody’s Analytics to forecast that North Dakota “will underperform the nation for the next several years [and] will flirt with recession through early 2016.”

The impact of low oil prices on the state is starting to trickle in. News reports citing North Dakota’s budget director said as of November, state tax revenues since July are $152m below forecast, with sales tax collections and corporate income tax collections down.

Slightly offsetting that are stronger-than-expected individual income tax collections.

Again, no denominator when citing the state tax revenues $152 million below forecast.

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Scottish Lunch

That's an old photo of one of my favorite snacks: herring. Actually I'm having tuna fish on toast and non-caffeinated, diet Coke, otherwise known as colored water with artificial sweetner.  The [London] Guardian story reminded me of the photo.