Bakken Shale – Williston, North Dakota – Boomtown. You’ve read about it in WSJ, Seen it on CNN. and in National Geographic. It is a “Eureka” sort of reality for hearty souls and pioneering entrepreneurs. Together with similar geology in Pennsylvania and Texas, a part of the solution to US dependence on foreign oil even though some environmentalists beg to differ.
For laborers and skilled trades people it is opportunity to work for crazy wages. Three weeks on and a week off. Straight time $60/hr for a Cat operator. New man camps are being set-up daily with mobile units. Hotels under construction have all rooms leased for 3 years before the doors open.
On a commuter jet out of Denver I sat next to the owner/CEO of an oil well drilling/leasing company working in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Texas. He explained the fraking process on the back of a napkin and assured me that environmental concerns were effectively mitigated. Interesting guy, self-made, rugged individualist running a business with 100 people, producing something of tangible value. His biggest challenge? Getting and keeping good skilled people. The big related challenge is places for people to live.
He told a story of buying a house for $250k. A week later he got an offer of $300k and a couple of weeks later, another for $350k. No sale. His business needed the living space.
This is harsh country with it’s own unique beauty. Brutal winter conditions – 40 below with big winds taking it much lower. It is also a black gold rush for risk takers and those willing to work hard in tough conditions.
Big players are there with Halliburton leading the list. Yet there is still a lot of bootstrapping, pioneering and small operators building their futures. I spent a day with a client CEO, a pioneer in his own right. We toured this frontier where oil well are being drilled as fast as possible. Three hundred wells are approved & permitted, yet to be drilled for lack of people and materials. On the drive back to Bismarck, ND from Williston I stopped at the visitor center that depicted this part of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
The parallel of pioneers then and now was both congruent and conflicting. Yet, surviving a winter on the plains of northwest North Dakota is a lot more likely today. I’m the Outsider and that’s what I think.