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On The Plains, The Rush For Oil Has Changed Everything

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Re: On The Plains, The Rush For Oil Has Changed Everything

#11

Post by fennecfoxen »

650REDHAIR wrote: post #7
Steltek wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds a lot like the Paradox of Plenty [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse ]. ND is fixated on the oil industry to the detriment of absolutely everything else. Hell, aren't they just burning all the extracted natural gas because it's basically a distraction from the liquid crude? There was an terribly sad update of the "Earth at Night" satellite image showing ND lit up like a Christmas Tree.

From my limited understanding it's not profitable enough to capture and transport the burn off.

Transport of the gas would itself require either some sort of pipelines, or gas liquefaction and transport via rail. Neither are particularly cheap, and natural gas prices are, for the moment, near all-time lows.

(Storage, of course, is wildly implausible. Leaving the gas for extraction later at more profitable prices probably wouldn't be worth the time-value-of-money adjusted profits you could make by immediate extraction.)

Re: On The Plains, The Rush For Oil Has Changed Everything

#12

Post by protomyth »

Steltek wrote: post #3
650REDHAIR wrote: post #2

(Grew up in ND, live in SD now) At one time starting wages were $100k/year, but I don't know anyone starting that high nowadays, except maybe strippers. The "man camps" are pretty horrible and most people blow their pay on booze and girls before they leave. It's really depressing.

Sounds a lot like the Paradox of Plenty [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse ]. ND is fixated on the oil industry to the detriment of absolutely everything else. Hell, aren't they just burning all the extracted natural gas because it's basically a distraction from the liquid crude? There was an terribly sad update of the "Earth at Night" satellite image showing ND lit up like a Christmas Tree.

They're trying to capture the gas now, ND issued some new rules on it.

ND is not just fixated on oil, farming is just as big as ever. Look at the number of crops ND is first or second in the nation at delivering. Lord knows the words this spring will be "flood control" in the east.

Re: On The Plains, The Rush For Oil Has Changed Everything

#14

Post by protomyth »

girvo wrote: post #4

Heh it's exactly like the rural towns that get turned into mining towns here in Australia. I've worked as a labourer out there with my dad (he's a civil engineer, works on the roads out in these towns). They start as a tiny rural area, developed into a boom-bust town that caters to the fly-in-fly-out workers who come in to work for 6 figures. Then the mine closes, and the town is left as a shadow of its former self,…

This area has seen it before in recent times, and though this time will probably last longer, there is a lot of planning on how to grow then shrink.

Contrary, to the article, Williston has never been a "nice" town, and that gif is f'n scary.

Re: On The Plains, The Rush For Oil Has Changed Everything

#19

Post by JPKab »

650REDHAIR wrote: post #2

(Grew up in ND, live in SD now) At one time starting wages were $100k/year, but I don't know anyone starting that high nowadays, except maybe strippers. The "man camps" are pretty horrible and most people blow their pay on booze and girls before they leave. It's really depressing.

Yeah, this is very common. It's simple economics: the barrier to entry for the majority of "starting at 100K" jobs was just geography, due to a short supply of workers and a huge demand. Eventually enough workers flood in, the wages drop, and the only people who can get a high starting salary are the highly skilled tradesmen (drill operators, welders, etc)

Tie onto that the fact that rents are relatively high due to a housing shortage, and you get a bunch of people living paycheck to paycheck just like they were before.

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