The Majors in the Bakken? -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Some folks are waiting for the "majors" to come into the Bakken. I agree with them and know exactly what they are saying. Right now, we see projects in the millions of dollars (HAL's $60 million project, or whatever it was; WAWS at $150 million, was it?), but if the majors come in, we might be seeing $billion projects, or certainly $billion deals. CLR has almost a million acres; at $10,000/acre = a "one" with lots of zeroes behind it; CLR's market cap in a depressed market is $9.43 billion.

Right now, the majors have a toehold:

• Chesapeake is already here
• Burlington Resources is a subsidiary of ConocoPhillips, the third largest integrated company in the world and the fifth largest refiner in the world
• XTO is a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, the largest company in the US, by market cap (occasionally bested by AAPL)
• Dakota-3 is a subsidiary of Williams (WMB)
• Baker Hughes is putting in a "SuperSite" in Williston and two other locations (more on this story to follow)
• Halliburton and Schlumberger have huge presence in Williston; Schlumberger building new complex
• Weatherford is consolidating five (?) Williston locations into one location east of Williston

Photos of the New Baker Hughes Building in Williston -- Heart of the Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Update

Baker Hughes is building three "SuperSites": in Williston, Dickinson, and Minot. The selection of Minot is very, very interesting, a subject for a later date.  Here's an artist's rendition of the site at Minot (remember: click on photo to open in another window where you can zoom in):

Photo sent to me from Kent.

Original Post

I believe this will be the largest building in Williston when complete. More on this story later, but the photographs are here for archival purposes.

It appears that the office building as depicted in the artist's rendition is not started. I think only the industrial / garage portion of the building is pictured above. I don't know if you can see it, but just to the right of the steel structure is a huge cement slab; that's where the office building could go. On the other hand, the artist's drawing suggests the office building will sit in front of the steel structure. Either way, it appears this should be the biggest building in the Williston area.