New Boom Reshapes Oil World, Rocks North Dakota

[DarrinS]

Maybe some of those OWS crybabies should move to ND.


http://www.npr.org/2011/09/25/140784004/new-boom-reshapes-oil-world-rocks-north-dakota





A couple months ago, Jake Featheringill and his wife got robbed.

It wasn't serious. No one was home at the time, and no one got hurt. But for Featheringill, it was just the latest in a string of bad luck.

"We made a decision," he says. "We decided to pick up and move in about three days. Packed all our stuff up in storage. Drove 24 straight hours on I-29, and made it to Williston with no place to live."

That's Williston, ND. Population — until just a few years ago — 12,000. Jake was born there, but moved away when he was a kid. He hadn't been back since.

"We came in right through the stretch of where the Badlands is," he remembers. "And then you come into the town. So many trucks. Semi trucks and four-wheel-drive pickups — for a mile straight. You've never seen so many trucks in your life."

Those trucks were in North Dakota for one reason — the same reason Featheringill had decided to move his wife and three kids to a remote section of western North Dakota.

Oil.

A $1,200 Parking Space

Two years ago, America was importing about two thirds of its oil. Today, according to the Energy Information Administration, it imports less than half. And by 2017, investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts the US could be poised to pass Saudi Arabia and overtake Russia as the world's largest oil producer.

Places like Williston are the reason why.

"For many years, they knew that there was oil in that area, but the technology wasn't available to get it out," the town's mayor, Ward Koeser, tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz.

But in the last few years, advances in such technologies as "fracking" and horizontal drilling have made, by some estimates, as much as 11 billion barrels of oil available in the Bakken formation under North Dakota and Montana.

"There's oil companies coming from all over the country now." Koeser says.

Williston has skipped the recession entirely. Unemployment there is less than 2 percent. The population, the mayor estimates, has grown from 12,000 to 20,000 in the last four years.

"We actually have probably between 2,000 and 3,000 job openings in Williston right now," Koeser says.

Oil workers like Jake Featheringill are fueling Williston's population growth. He's working as a shophand for Baker Hughes, making enough to support his wife and three children. But with such a sudden population increase, Williston's infrastructure can't keep up.

"When we came up here, we were told housing was tough but not impossible," Featheringill says. He and his wife got lucky and borrowed an RV from a family friend. "We got lucky again and got to park the RV in a place where we were rent-free. Most of the RV spots around here run $1,000 to $1,200."

That's $1,000 a month, just for a parking space. "Is that not amazing?" Featheringill says. "And that's in a 70-mile radius. Just to park your RV."

'Boom-Town Syndrome'

"It's the old boom-town syndrome," says Charles Groat says, professor of energy and mineral resources at the University of Texas in Austin.

A small town like Williston, he says, can be burdened by a sudden oil boom.

"All the workers. And then you have roads and trucks and pipelines. And then you have all the community services that have to be provided — law enforcement, education. So it turns into a real bonanza in terms of income, but it becomes an environmental effect that people aren't used to experiencing."

In Williston, many workers forgo prices as high as $2,000 a month to rent a small apartment and instead live in "man camps," massive group-housing provided by their companies.

"Just a little room with a bed and a TV," Mayor Ward Koeser explains. "And then they have recreation areas."

The boom in Williston, Charles Groat says, is happening in spots across America. New drilling technology is also fueling boom towns in Texas, Louisiana, and Colorado. New drilling technologies mean companies can extract oil and natural gas from shale rock that was previously thought unreachable.

"Horizontal drilling — accessing a huge area of reservoir — and then the fracking process, which props opens those cracks, and allows the liquid or gas to flow to the well," Groat says. "That's what's made shale gas and shale oil such a viable resource."

But those techniques also raise environmental concerns that Groat is studying.

"There is a danger, here – the fact that we drill so many wells," he says. "If you look at the numbers of wells that have been drilled in North Dakota, just in recent times, the numbers of wells are huge, which increases the opportunity for bad things to happen environmentally or procedurally in developing the resource. We also are not dealing, of course, with the question of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide as we continue our hydrocarbon dependence." :cry

Global Implications

Amy Myers Jaffe of Rice University says in the next decade, new oil in the US, Canada and South America could change the center of gravity of the entire global energy supply.

"Some are now saying, in five or 10 years' time, we're a major oil-producing region, where our production is going up," she says.

The US, Jaffe says, could have 2 trillion barrels of oil waiting to be drilled. South America could hold another 2 trillion. And Canada? 2.4 trillion. That's compared to just 1.2 trillion in the Middle East and north Africa. :wow

Jaffe says those new oil reserves, combined with growing turmoil in the Middle East, will "absolutely propel more and more investment into the energy resources in the Americas."

Russia is already feeling the growth of American energy, Jaffe says. As the U.S. produces more of its own natural gas, Europe is free to purchase liquefied natural gas the US is no longer buying.

"They're buying less natural gas from Russia," Jaffe says. "So Russia would only supply 10 percent of European natural gas demand by 2030. That means the Russians are no longer powerful."

The American energy boom, Jaffe says, could endanger many green-energy initiatives that have gained popularity in recent years. But royalties and revenue from U.S. production of oil and natural gas, she adds, could be used to invest in improving green technology.

"We don't have the commercial technology now," she says, noting the recent bankruptcy of American solar companies like Solyndra.

"The point is you can't force a technology that's not commercial. Rather than subsidize things that are not going to be competitive, we need to actually use that money to do R&D to create technologies — the same way that the industries created these technologies to produce natural gas and it turned out so commercially successful."

[DarrinS]

And here's a way for some of those OWS skanks to pay off their student loans

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/25/strippers-in-williston-no_n_1030834.html




Strippers In Williston, North Dakota Raking In $2,000 Per Night In Tips

An oil boomtown in the middle of North Dakota is proving that the laws of supply and demand apply to everything -- even stripper salaries.

As thousands of men move to Williston, North Dakota seeking high-paying jobs working for oil companies, area strippers have seen their salaries skyrocket, CNNMoney reports. Strippers claim that they can make $2,000 to $3,000 per night in tips -- more than in typical strip club hot spots like Las Vegas -- dancing for the oil rig workers, many of whom moved to the town without their families.

Word of their success has spread and now applications are pouring in to the town's strip clubs from women working as far away as Hawaii and Germany, according to CNNMoney. North Dakota has weathered the recession particularly well, with an unemployment rate of only 3.5 percent as of September, in comparison to the national rate of 9.1 percent.

Though the stripper economy in Williston may seem particularly extreme, women are flocking to jobs dancing in strip clubs and posing in adult magazines elsewhere as well. Employers in the adult entertainment industry told the Associated Press in 2009 that they were seeing an influx in job applicants thanks to the down economy.

Still, the down economy hasn't hurt the strip club industry in many locations. On some nights in British Columbia, strippers pull in less than half of what they used to make thanks in large part to the economic downturn and the rise of internet porn, according to The Vancouver Sun. In Tampa some strip club owners reported in 2008 that their business dropped 25 percent as potential patrons had less money to spend in a down economy.

In more extreme cases, the recession has pushed some into prostitution, especially in Portugal, where many women have struggled to feed their families, according to IPS. The Independent reported at the height of the recession that in Germany, where prostitution is legal, brothels attempted to overcome the financial downturn by offering free promotions and cutting prices.

[ChumpDumper]

Darrin posted an article about man camps.

[ElNono]

People are indeed moving there... IIRC, the population growth for the last decade is well over 20%...

Talking about Williston... from Wiki:
The median income for a household in the city was $29,962, and the median income for a family was $38,713. Males had a median income of $29,578 versus $18,879 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,656. About 11.3% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.1% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Somebody is making money, not necessarily the people though.

[Halberto]

People are indeed moving there... IIRC, the population growth for the last decade is well over 20%...

Talking about Williston... from Wiki:
The median income for a household in the city was $29,962, and the median income for a family was $38,713. Males had a median income of $29,578 versus $18,879 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,656. About 11.3% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.1% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Somebody is making money, not necessarily the people though.

Truck drivers are getting paid up to $70k a year there. Williston also has the highest paid McDonald's employees in the country. Drilling there is undoubtedly providing an economic boost for the town. This is a blessing for many people considering the current economy.

[4>0rings]

Darrin posted an article about man camps.
First he cares about Ghadafi's asshole, now lubed up man camps. :lol

[ElNono]

Truck drivers are getting paid up to $70k a year there. Williston also has the highest paid McDonald's employees in the country. Drilling there is undoubtedly providing an economic boost for the town. This is a blessing for many people considering the current economy.

People are certainly moving there, as I pointed out. I don't know what the cost of living looks like there, but the numbers posted don't seem to reflect a boom (at least yet).

[baseline bum]

So based on his recommendation, Darrin would suck dick in a club to pay off his student loans had he graduated now?

[Halberto]

People are certainly moving there, as I pointed out. I don't know what the cost of living looks like there, but the numbers posted don't seem to reflect a boom (at least yet).

Even if you disregard the residents of Williston, wouldn't you call this a good thing? Raw, valuable material produced in America by Americans. Thank god for technology. People should be jumping on this, they can't hire enough people there.

[ElNono]

Even if you disregard the residents of Williston, wouldn't you call this a good thing? Raw, valuable material produced in America by Americans. Thank god for technology. People should be jumping on this, they can't hire enough people there.

Sure, it's a great thing. I'm just not sure advocating the OWS kids to move there is a good idea, seeing what the average pay seems to be.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Sure, it's a great thing. I'm just not sure advocating the OWS kids to move there is a good idea, seeing what the average pay seems to be.

Hes just butthurt because his mailers tell him to be. I guarantee you that whoever is handling the financing of the projects out there is making a hugely disproportionate amount compared to everyone else. Thats what OWS talks about.

[Cry Havoc]

Maybe some of those OWS crybabies should move to ND.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sDDgFanGKGY/TcezyitUoKI/AAAAAAAAcu4/vQBs7pWjfmo/s1600/obsession1.jpg

[DarrinS]

Sure, it's a great thing. I'm just not sure advocating the OWS kids to move there is a good idea, seeing what the average pay seems to be.

Uh, it was a joke.

[Cry Havoc]

Uh, it was a joke.


Maybe some of those OWS crybabies should move to ND.

HA HA! Is good joke! U so funny!

[ElNono]

Uh, it was a joke.

Sounded more like butthurt, tbh

[DarrinS]

Sounded more like butthurt, tbh

No, I was just considering what skills those people would bring to the table.

[DarrinS]

People are indeed moving there... IIRC, the population growth for the last decade is well over 20%...

Talking about Williston... from Wiki:
The median income for a household in the city was $29,962, and the median income for a family was $38,713. Males had a median income of $29,578 versus $18,879 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,656. About 11.3% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.1% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Somebody is making money, not necessarily the people though.

Why so quick to shit on their success?

[ElNono]

No, I was just considering what skills those people would bring to the table.

what skills?

[ElNono]

Why so quick to shit on their success?

$30K is a success?

[DarrinS]

$30K is a success?

Do very low non-oil-related incomes reduce the average?

[DarrinS]

what skills?

Exactly

[Fabbs]

So based on his recommendation, Darrin would suck dick in a club to pay off his student loans had he graduated now?
:lol nicely done baseline bum.

[RandomGuy]

People are indeed moving there... IIRC, the population growth for the last decade is well over 20%...

Talking about Williston... from Wiki:
The median income for a household in the city was $29,962, and the median income for a family was $38,713. Males had a median income of $29,578 versus $18,879 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,656. About 11.3% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.1% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Somebody is making money, not necessarily the people though.

probably income data from the 2010 census, I would guess. A boom would push the median and average up.

[ElNono]

Do very low non-oil-related incomes reduce the average?

Looks like those prostitutes aren't making much after all...

[Nbadan]

if you've ever been to North Dakota you'd know why there no one wants to live there...but I offer them Rickybobby...

[Agloco]

so based on his recommendation, darrin would suck dick in a club to pay off his student loans had he graduated now?

:lol

[DarrinS]

if you've ever been to North Dakota you'd know why there no one wants to live there...but I offer them Rickybobby...

Probably not a lot oh 9/11 twoofers there, huh?

[ChumpDumper]

Probably not a lot oh 9/11 twoofers there, huh?Likely more than a few birthers.

[TDMVPDPOY]

mining towns are horseshit, with all that salary etc, ppl must take into equation living standards and cost of living of living up there...rent is the biggest budget killer...

usa only importing half....lol when was iraq a state of the usa?

[DarrinS]

mining towns are horseshit, with all that salary etc, ppl must take into equation living standards and cost of living of living up there...rent is the biggest budget killer...

usa only importing half....lol when was iraq a state of the usa?

Lol -- we import most of our oil from Canada and Mexico.

[DMX7]

I heard about how people are miserable there.

[Nbadan]

It's freaking cold and miserable.... but on the bright side....Darrin finally admitted that the economy is growing......stimulus - it works!

[RandomGuy]

mining towns are horseshit, with all that salary etc, ppl must take into equation living standards and cost of living of living up there...rent is the biggest budget killer...

usa only importing half....lol when was iraq a state of the usa?

uGeppkckVeo

Rent, shment. Easy to own. Hell, get it shipped there.

[RandomGuy]

Lol -- we import most of our oil from Canada and Mexico.

Top 5 crude sources in order:

CANADA
SAUDI ARABIA
MEXICO
VENEZUELA
NIGERIA
IRAQ
http://205.254.135.24/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

Canada and Mexico together do not comprise "most" of our oil (36%). To break the 50% mark you have to add Saudi and Venezualan oil. Together the first four comprise 58% of our crude imports.

Total petroleum imports roughly correspond to the crude figures, with a bit more weighting given to Canada.

[DarrinS]

Top 5 crude sources in order:

CANADA
SAUDI ARABIA
MEXICO
VENEZUELA
NIGERIA
IRAQ
http://205.254.135.24/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

Canada and Mexico together do not comprise "most" of our oil (36%). To break the 50% mark you have to add Saudi and Venezualan oil. Together the first four comprise 58% of our crude imports.

Total petroleum imports roughly correspond to the crude figures, with a bit more weighting given to Canada.


I stand corrected. Would you agree that we get more oil from non-OPEC countries and that we get far more oil from Canada than we do Iraq?

[RandomGuy]

I stand corrected. Would you agree that we get more oil from non-OPEC countries and that we get far more oil from Canada than we do Iraq?

Yup. I would say that is accurate.

Canada looks to provide even more once some infrastructure projects come online to get the tar sands oil down here.

Those sources of oil have become much more profitable with the recent natural gas boom.

Still not quite the bonanza that the guys selling the projects perenially claim, but better.

I am not sure how much more ecological damage Canada will tolerate to get at those sand oils, and that is a big factor in the ultimate amount/rate of oil extracted.

[Winehole23]

Maybe some of those OWS crybabies should move to ND.


http://www.npr.org/2011/09/25/140784004/new-boom-reshapes-oil-world-rocks-north-dakotaYep.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/human-rights-abuses-escal_b_12599380.html?

[Winehole23]

The Morton County Sheriff's Department said 300 protesters trespassed on private property and "engaged in escalated unlawful tactics and behavior" at a spot three miles west of State Highway 1806, along the pipeline right-of-way.http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/22/us/dakota-access-pipeline-arrests/

[Winehole23]

same company is building the TPL pipeline in West Texas:

http://therivardreport.com/bulldozing-the-last-texas-frontier/

[Winehole23]

Almost exactly 20 years ago, President Bill Clinton signed into law a bill creating an interstate agreement for emergency management. That inconspicuous law has opened the door for the current flood of out-of-state law enforcement agents present at the continuing protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in North Dakotahttp://www.desmogblog.com/2016/10/27/emergency-assistance-law-dakota-access-pipeline-out-state-cops

[Winehole23]

weird stuff. odd that this isn't getting more coverage.


The man who North Dakota authorities had said was shot by Dakota Access Pipeline protesters was actually an armed instigator linked to the pipeline company, Standing Rock Sioux tribe members said Friday.

The sheriff’s office, which said Thursday the man was shot in one of two incidents involving gunfire during tumultuous protests against the pipeline, backpedaled on Friday and said the man wasn’t shot.


The conflicting new claims called into question accounts of Thursday’s chaotic demonstration, (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dakota-access-pipeline-protesters-removed_us_58123b0ee4b0990edc2fb009)in which 142 people were arrested as police in riot gear removed protesters from an encampment blocking the pipeline’s path.


The Standing Rock Sioux tribe claimed Friday that the supposed shooting victim drove a truck through a highway barricade set up by protesters, who gave chase and forced him off the road. He then got out of the vehicle and “fired several shots from his assault rifle,” the tribe said in a statement (https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1413901058638160&id=402298239798452) posted to Facebook.


Bureau of Indian Affairs agents detained the man, whose name has not been released, and turned him over to the FBI, according to BIA spokeswoman Nedra Darling. The FBI did not respond to The Huffington Post’s inquiries.
Documents found in the man’s Chevy Silverado pickup suggest he was a Dakota Access Pipeline security guard in a company-owned truck, the Standing Rock Sioux statement said. The tribe posted photos of insurance papers linking the vehicle to the pipeline. Mother Jones reported (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/10/armed-man-dakota-access-pipeline-protest-dapl) there was an employee ID badge in the pickup. Protesters later set the vehicle on fire, according to Mother Jones.


Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier on Friday said the man, a contractor providing security, was indeed armed, but “that was more or less in self defense.” The man fired no shots, Kirchmeier said during a press conference (https://www.facebook.com/MortonCountySD/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE), and was not wounded by gunfire.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dakota-access-pipeline-shooting_us_5813b711e4b064e1b4b28f41

[Winehole23]

“I used to think there was no rational argument for civilian possession of military-style weapons. But in light of the disparate treatment of the armed Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupiers (who were acquitted of all charges Friday) and the protesters in North Dakota supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in its fight against construction of an oil pipeline, it’s apparent that such weapons are now an effective component of the protester’s toolkit”

[TheSanityAnnex]

Terrible comparison trying to equate the two.

Malhuer
peaceful despite 7 FBI informants inside, some actively involved in takeover. FBI shoots and kills protester, lies and tries to cover up.

North Dakota
not peaceful. Protester shoots at law enforcement.


And I support both parties protests, but this letter to the editor is just stupid.

[Winehole23]

Seems pretty straightforward to me. I thought you'd like the pro-gun angle.

[TheSanityAnnex]

Seems pretty straightforward to me. I thought you'd like the pro-gun angle.

Had nothing to do with guns. One protest was peaceful and one wasn't. And I feel for the Dakota protesters more.

[boutons_deux]

Trump and his key advisors stand to profit from the Dakota Access Pipeline



Trump has personally invested between $500,000 and $1 million (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/26/donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline-investment-energy-transfer-partners) in Energy Transfer Partners — the very same company that’s constructing the pipeline.
Trump has an additional $500,000 to $1 million holding in Phillips 66, which would have a 25 percent stake in the completed Dakota Access project.
Energy Transfer Partners Chief Executive Kelcy Warren donated $103,000 toward Trump’s campaign and a further $66,800 to the Republican National Committee after he became the party nominee.
Harold Hamm, a top Trump campaign advisor and leading candidate for energy secretary, is the CEO of Continental Resources, whose oil would be carried through the Dakota Access Pipeline.
John Paulson, another campaign advisor, is heavily invested in the Bakken oil and gas industry. And that’s just (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/president-trumps-energy-policy-would-be-a-nightmare-w442625) the start (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/who-is-in-president-trump-cabinet-231071) for fossil fuel connections on Trump’s team.


The day following Trump’s victory, the stock value of Energy Transfer’s parent company surged 15 percent (http://blogs.barrons.com/incomeinvesting/2016/11/09/energy-transfer-jumps-on-expectations-dakota-pipeline-will-proceed/) as the pipeline’s future went from uncertain to a sure bet (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/dakota-pipeline-protests/what-will-trump-presidency-mean-dakota-access-pipeline-n682746). The project was 84 percent complete as of Thursday and could be green-lighted by Obama even before Trump’s inauguration.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/trump-and-his-key-advisors-stand-to-profit-from-the-dakota-access-pipeline/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

[SpursforSix]

Trump and his key advisors stand to profit from the Dakota Access Pipeline



Trump has personally invested between $500,000 and $1 million (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/26/donald-trump-dakota-access-pipeline-investment-energy-transfer-partners) in Energy Transfer Partners — the very same company that’s constructing the pipeline.
Trump has an additional $500,000 to $1 million holding in Phillips 66, which would have a 25 percent stake in the completed Dakota Access project.
Energy Transfer Partners Chief Executive Kelcy Warren donated $103,000 toward Trump’s campaign and a further $66,800 to the Republican National Committee after he became the party nominee.
Harold Hamm, a top Trump campaign advisor and leading candidate for energy secretary, is the CEO of Continental Resources, whose oil would be carried through the Dakota Access Pipeline.
John Paulson, another campaign advisor, is heavily invested in the Bakken oil and gas industry. And that’s just (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/president-trumps-energy-policy-would-be-a-nightmare-w442625) the start (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/who-is-in-president-trump-cabinet-231071) for fossil fuel connections on Trump’s team.


The day following Trump’s victory, the stock value of Energy Transfer’s parent company surged 15 percent (http://blogs.barrons.com/incomeinvesting/2016/11/09/energy-transfer-jumps-on-expectations-dakota-pipeline-will-proceed/) as the pipeline’s future went from uncertain to a sure bet (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/dakota-pipeline-protests/what-will-trump-presidency-mean-dakota-access-pipeline-n682746). The project was 84 percent complete as of Thursday and could be green-lighted by Obama even before Trump’s inauguration.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/trump-and-his-key-advisors-stand-to-profit-from-the-dakota-access-pipeline/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29




holy shit!!!! Trump has a whole $2,000,000 invested??!??! He must own like half of Phillips and Energy Transfer Partners. Thank god the pipeline will be built or those companies would have gone bankrupt.

[boutons_deux]

btw, the reason the pipeline Sky People moved the pipeline away from Bismarck and into Indian sacred grounds was that they feared the pipeline would pollute Bismarck's water.

[CosmicCowboy]

btw, the reason the pipeline Sky People moved the pipeline away from Bismarck and into Indian sacred grounds was that they feared the pipeline would pollute Bismarck's water.

The pipeline doesn't cross tribal land. There are already 8 other pipelines that cross the river.