In November drillers exploring the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota reached a major milestone, averaging half a million barrels of oil extraction a day.
Currently pumping out nearly 510,000 barrels a day, a 42 percent increase from last year, North Dakota has assumed the mantle of America’s number two oil producing state, surpassing California and Alaska, trailing only Texas.
State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms declared that North Dakota is now producing 10 percent of the nation’s crude oil and that the total number of barrels coming out of the Bakken’s 6,300 wells surpassed the number of barrels imported by both Iraq and Colombia.
Helms contends that the number would have been even higher but the region is currently experiencing a shortage in hydraulic fracturing crews.
The oil boom has lead to a huge influx of jobs throughout the western half of the state, with new oil rigs and construction sights popping up almost every day.
North Dakota currently has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate, at 3.5 percent — a number that could shrink even further as companies are finding it difficult to hire enough miners, construction workers and truck drivers to keep pace with the high demand for crude oil production.
North Dakota’s newfound prosperity is having far reaching affects throughout the country…
Particularly in Arizona where the oil boom up north has lead to a real estate boom down south.
Arizona’s warm weather and low housing costs are natural draws to North Dakotans seeking refuge from the state’s notoriously harsh winters.
Relative to the rest of the nation, houses are being bought at a frenzied pace.
According to Michael McEown, an executive at the Minot Board of Realtors, homes in Arizona hot beds like Phoenix are only on the market for an average of 75 days — making it one of the most active markets in the nation.
Until next time
Nate
