Williston Doubles Taxable Sales -- Williams County Surpasses Cass County -- State Officials Surprised By Size of Increase in Taxable Sales -- First Quarter 2011 -- North Dakota: 34 Percent Increase -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Some of what follows: I have to thank "anonymous" for giving me a "head's up" on this story yesterday, about Williams County surpassing Cass County -- see near end of posting.

Despite one of the worse winters on record, if not the worst.

Link here.

North Dakota Tax Commissioner Cory Fong says taxable sales and purchases the first three months of the year totaled $3.5 billion, an increase of nearly 34 percent over the year.

Fong says officials expected the state's economy to remain strong but were still surprised by the level of the increase.

Full report here (PDF file).

I was surprised how short the article was in the Bismarck Tribune -- I guess the state considers the oil patch and all its revenue "ho-hum."

The Great Plains Examiner, however, had a huge story on the increase in taxable sales to include this nugget which the Bismarck Tribune cut:

The five cities that showed the most growth in taxable sales were in the state’s oil patch. Tioga was up 159.2 percent; Williston was up 106.8 percent; Stanley was up 106.4 percent; New Town was up 65.5 percent; and Crosby was up 59.3 percent.

The Examiner noted:

“Even with the ongoing severe weather-related conditions during the first quarter, coupled with rising prices at the pump, North Dakota’s consumer confidence in our economy remained strong,” Fong noted.

And the Examiner even included a link to the full report (as linked above):

The complete North Dakota Sales and Use Tax Statistical Report for First Quarter 2011 is available on the Tax Department’s web site at www.nd.gov/tax/.

Although Williston was still second to Fargo in taxable sales, Williams County (Williston) beat out Cass County (Fargo) in taxable sales and purchases. Yep, the Williston Herald confirms this.

Statistics from the State Tax Department show Williams County surpassing Cass County in the first quarter of 2011 in taxable sales and purchases.

Williams County recorded more than $550.6 million of taxable sales and purchases in the first quarter.

This outpaced the more than $543.6 million recorded in Cass County.

"That's just amazing, just amazing. Just look around, it's not so much the retail dollars as it is the oil and construction going on around here," Williams County Commission Chairman Dan Kalil said. On the city level, Williston remained number two behind Fargo. Williston recorded more than $447 million during the first quarter, which was second to Fargo's $480.9 million. Williams County Auditor Beth Innis said she was surprised by the news. Innis added that despite the high level of oil activity, she never thought Williams County would pass Cass County.

Dunn County May Have To Raise Pay to Keep County Road Crews -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Link here (regional links break early).

Dunn County officials discussed increasing road department wages during a meeting at the Dunn County Courthouse on Wednesday morning. 

The increase was proposed to make the road department more efficient in the wake of turnover and competition with energy jobs, officials said.

Auditor Reinhard Hauck said that road department wages start at $16 per hour and reach around $21 after five years experience.

I have a comment but will hold it for now.

One of My Favorite Photos -- Absolutely Nothing To Do With The Bakken -- An EV Dies, and Now Instead of a Simple Refill, Hours to Recharge

An EV (all-electric vehicle) whose battery has died (Legoland, southern California). It is now being pushed off the "freeway" to be recharged, a process that will take more than a few minutes.

Regular readers know why I posted this. For newbies, "what the ...?" Ignore it and go back to Bakken posts. Just for fun.

Speaking of EVs (link here, sent to me by Greg):

The Nissan Leaf has so far “outsold” the Chevy Volt, 4,134 to 2,745, reports the Los Angeles Times. As each buyer gets a $7,500 tax credit, these sales have so far cost taxpayers $51.6 million.

From the LA Times:

When it comes to sales of electric vehicles, Nissan's Leaf is charging ahead.

Nissan Motor Co. has sold 4,134 of the battery-powered electric cars this year. General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet, by comparison, has sold 2,745 of its Volt car, which is technically a plug-in hybrid because it runs on electricity for about 40 miles before a gasoline-fueled generator kicks in to extend the vehicle's range.

My hunch: the journalist is not a math major. When the number of cars sold in this country each year is measured in millions, the difference between 4,000 and 3,000 is statistically insignificant. It's made even more insignificant when one realizes many of these cars are being bought or held by dealers as promotional tools to bring customers into the show room. The whole thing is a farce. 

Remember, these things are powered on coal.

The Bakken-Permian Pond / Fly-Over Country

The "ocean" a few years ago.  [dinosaur ocean map]

From the new dinosaur exhibit at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles.

I don't know about other PCs, but on a Mac it is very easy to make this picture as big as you want so you can read the captions. Simply click on the photo; it will open in another window. Then, hold down the control key (Apple icon) and hit the +/= sign as many times as you want to get the picture as large as you want.

An Esoteric Look At Some Oasis Wells on DRL Status for Extended Period of Time -- For My Benefit Only -- Not Worth Spending A Lot of Time On -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Earlier I posted a random thought about the cost to an operator while waiting for a well to be completed (fracked).

"Anonymous" gave an example of Oasis Petroleum "dragging" out the reporting process for much longer than six months. I was curious.

Going to NDIC's "Well Search" database, one can see how long some wells are waiting to be completed.

If I am reading the database correctly, and I assume I am, the "Status Date" refers to the date the well was put on that status.

Here are some outliers. These Oasis wells went on DRL status on the following dates according to NDIC:

• 17661, 12/7/10, Ruud 5493 42-23H; t8/11; cum 94K 6/12; IP: 1,592
• 19307, 8/20/10, Devon 5601 12-17H; t7/11; cum 64K 6/12; IP: 1,033
• 17646, 11/25/10, Peters 11-1H  [t7/11; cum 68K 6/12; IP - 741]

A fourth well might have been on DRL status at one time, but is back on the confidential list now:

• 19413, 11/28/10, Moore 5304 13-1H, t9/12 (obviously a typo; today it's August 21, 2012); cum 62K 6/12; IP: 1,260. 

This list does not include several that have been on DRL status since March, 2011.

17661: the file report showed they reached total depth in 20 days on February 28, 2011. I do not understand a "DRL" status date of 12/17/10.

19307: spud date -- 8/20/10; TD in 31 days, November 12, 2010. The well file does have a photo of the flare; t7/11; cum 64K 6/12; IP: 1,033

17646: spud date -- 11/25/10; TD in 22 days, December 10, 2010; t7/11; cum 68K 6/12; IP - 741]

Again, there are several other wells on DRL status, but they are a bit more recent.

But a well waiting to be fracked is costing the operator money (some wells don't require fracking, but I would assume these are not placed on DRL status if otherwise completed). Of the three above, only one doesn't make sense to me, so in general, it appears things are generally "above board." (I'm not a conspiracy theorist regarding wells on DRL status -- except for perhaps the Oil for America wells that have been on DRL status "forever.")


19413 : this well is a bit of a strange duck. It is back on the confidential list. It was being drilled back in "November, 2010 - January, 2011." It reached TD in 37 days, on January 3, 2011, after re-entry November 28, 2010. The file report suggests that it was originally targeting the Middle Bakken but was re-designated to target the Three Forks. It was scheduled to undergo fracking on/about April 1, 2011, but now that the well is back on the confidential list, we don't know whether it has yet been fracked. The fact that it is not listed in DRL status suggests to me it has not been fracked yet; t9/12 (obviously an error; it is August 21, 2012 today; IP: 1,260; cum 62K 6/12;

I've put a similar comment to the above at: http://milliondollarway.blogspot.com/2011/07/for-investors-only-burning-through-cash.html.