MDU's Knife River To Open Plant in Williston -- Heart of the Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here (regional links break early and break often). A big "thank you" to Don for alerting me to this story.

Knife River Corporation announced plans today to open a Western North Dakota Division with full aggregate, ready-mix, asphalt and concrete construction services. Headquartered in Williston, division employees will perform private and public work throughout western North Dakota and eastern Montana.

This was announced on April 11; a couple days later there was an article detailing the amount of money flowing to the oil patch in North Dakota. Perhaps the most amount of money ever appropriated for road construction and maintenance has been earmarked for the Bakken: $610 million plus another $100 million for other oi-related impact projects over the next two years.

So, MDU's Knife River decision to set up shop in Williston is huge.

One of the first things I thought of when I read this: the huge additional workforce that will be needed. Initially, my hunch is that the bulk of the workforce will come out of Boise, Idaha; Bismarck; and, perhaps, Minnesota.

The office and all production equipment will be situated on property in north Williston, with plans to have full ready-mix operations available by early May. A spokesman said that when North Dakota's spring road restrictions lift, an asphalt plant transferred from Knife River's Boise, Idaho, operations will be permanently placed. Knife River already has secured a paving contract with the city of Williston.

For investors, despite all the volatility of the stock market recently, MDU has held its own very, very nicely and continues to pay a respectable dividend.

I would be surprised if we did not see a story on Seeking Alpha or Investopedia regarding this recent announcement.

This would also be an opportunity to go back to read all those articles between 2006 and 2008 that said the Bakken was over-hyped. Even Snopes.com, as recently as March, 2010, fails to put the Bakken into perspective.

EOG Reports Five (5) Well Completions -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

EOG recently reported the following completions. I don't have any idea how current the information is or if it's been previously posted:

• 19721, Liberty LR 19-23H – 1,282 barrels of oil and 793,000 cubic feet NG/day; 24K first month
• 19720, Liberty LR 14-23H – 1,124 barrels of oil and 580,000 cubic feet NG/day;
• 18827, Liberty 10-36H – 1,716 barrels of oil per day; 16K per month.
• 19560, Ross 27-2728H – 1,038 barrels of oil per day.
• 19157, Bear Den 4-20H – 2,116 barrels of oil and 2.5 million cubic feet of NG/day; 22K first 25 days; NDIC IP: 1,476

Federal and State Money Flowing to OIl Counties -- $1 Billion For Starters -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Money flowing to western North Dakota, some data points (some numbers rounded):

• $610 million for roads (oil counties; $60 million for other counties across the state)
• $150 million for Western Area Water Supply, loan from Bank of North Dakota
• $100 million for oil impact and other projects, grants from Bank of North Dakota
• $5 million of the $100 million specifically designated for schools dealing with rapid expansion

Greatest part of road construction slated to begin spring of 2012

• Construction on Highway 22 north of Killdeer may begin as early as this summer
• Commitments to work on highways 85, 22, and 23

Other projects:

• Williston State College: an extra $100,000 for security
• Dickinson State College: $750,000 for Theodore Roosevelt projects
• Minot Air Force Base: $325,000; to enhance the base to prevent closure
• North Dakota State College of Science: additional $10 million to expand diesel motor mechanics program; program now at capacity; oil industry desperately needs mechanics

For newbies and out-of-staters, how does that $100 million compare with past years?

• For the previous biennium, only $8 million ($4 million/year) was appropriated

Rumors:

• More big box stores and another huge truck stop (in addition to those in Williston)

Do pigs fly? It Must Be True; It's Being Reported by the New York Times

Is this a true story or a story from The Onion?

The President to open drilling in Alaska? It must be true, it's being reported by the New York Times.

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Update, 5:20 p.m. EST, May 14, 2011: Never mind. I got the story from today's on-line edition of the LA Times. I was not aware that the president had promised the same thing more than a year ago (March 31, 2010).

Update, 6:59 p.m. EST, May 14, 2011: Never mind. The actual drilling won't begin in my investing lifetime based on past history. The scuttlebutt is that "opening" these areas to new drilling will be a bargaining chip for raising taxes on big oil and/or a windfall profit tax. Increased taxes on big oil will happen within my investing lifetime.

Amazing! RigZone Picked Up This Story -- Oil Company Interested in Mineral Rights in Eastern North Dakota

I posted the results of the North Dakota state lease auction on May 5, 2011, which included the "Stutsman story."

RigZone noted the "Stutsman story" also and put up a very nice post.