It is estimated that the total oil in place in the Bakken formation,which exists in North Dakota,Montana,Saskatchewan and Manitoba could be as high as 500 billion barrels,with about 24 billion barrels recoverable with todays technology. About 2/3 of this total is present in North Dakota. There are also other formations above and below that have great potential. One is the Three Forks Spanish formation which is said to possibly contain more oil than the Bakken formation,only the drill bit will tell. About 10 years ago North Dakota was ranked about number 12 in the U.S. in total yearly output.It now ranks number 4 and rising fast. It is behind only Texas,California and Alaska,in that order. It is said that in 2 to 3 years,at the rate it is increasing, that it will surpass Alaska in production. Any shale play in the U.S. that is also producing oil is a very hot area,but the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana is the hottest at this time. Also North Dakota,along with Alaska,Montana and Arkansas are the only states at this time that have a budget surplus, and North Dakota has one of the lowest if not the lowest unemployment rates in the country,thanks largely to the oil boom.
I think the problem with a lot of people looking at ND are those who in the old days were called boomers who went to the place where the boom was, worked until another boom started some place else then left. Get your sock full, then move on. Due to the environment, the weather will weed out the sissy's.
If someone heads up there with the intention to staying there and building a business, things may boom and bust, but they will survive. Put in a shop, maybe some machining to go along with the welding and the shop can survive when the drilling bust out.
Take a drive around a west Texas oilfield town and look at the shops and business that are successful. These will be the same that will survive in NoDak. But it is going to take a hardy person with a long eye for the future to survive up there. But if worse comes to worse, you can always drive back to the house.
Pretty much right on. If you got what it takes you might come home with a pockett full of cash most I see that come threw there find it more difficult and taxing than its worth. That place jacks with you mentaly. Pretty bad when all you want to do is get your self some deep woods off at Walmart in the summer and they have been completly sold out for two weeks and you end up ordering it online. spent three years there and just getting ready to head back after I finnish this job and I dont look forward to it. Shannon or the aws handle of weaver can tell you more. I would say he is the expert up there.
Give me a call when u can, 2315578352
You forgot Wyoming, not only does Wyoming always run budget surpluses we are the only state with multi billion dollar investments that the earnings goto the general fund year to year. For example the hathaway scholarship far as i know is the only one of its type in the nation, anyone graduating hs with a 3.2 i believe is eldgible to a tuition free scholarship, paid for by the state of Wyoming.
I thought Wyoming had a budget surplus,but for what it`s worth I just reported what I saw in my AARP paper. It said Wyoming had a 10.3% budget deficit. I know for quite some time I read in other publications it had a surplus,thanks to the oil and gas industry.
Doesnt New Mexico have something simular to Wyoming with the paid scholarship. Except it is funded by the lottery?
Hard to make sense of the goverment these days if its cash revenue they seem to deplete it. Isnt the goverment always broke?
I think actually you are right for this year, difference being Wyoming is sitting on a about a Billion in savings, they are still working on the Budget I think too. Hoping the idiots at large though dont pass or enforce some new regulation that could really hurt the shale drilling. Read some speculation about we could be 70% energy independent by 2020 with these new shale areas coming online
Not sure hillbilly on NM, In all cases I hope the scholarships start towards skilled trades as well, whenever i visit a machine shop, i hardly ever see a young person at work anymore, do meet a few welders here and there, but not a lot. by 2020 we may need to issue work visas just to get skilled labor in here to get work done , college degrees here are being pushed as the only solution.
Richard
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