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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

#21

Post by saryant »

jeza wrote: post #18

I gather this is the result of the increasing price of crude oil, making small oil fields that weren't previously considered viable now viable. The output of these wells is enough to essentially stop oil prices from going through the roof for the time being.

It's not just that the cost of crude is up, advances in horizontal drilling and fracking have made these wells economical despite lower crude prices.

Fracking has been tried on and off for decades but it was only recently that wildcatters struck upon the right formula and techniques to unlock the Bakken.

Horizontal drilling is key in this region because the Bakken is like an oreo cookie: a thin layer of crude sandwiched between two huge layers of rock. Fracking breaks up the small inner layer while horizontal drilling lets a single well drill down into that layer and then within that layer, unlocking far more crude than with regular vertical drilling.

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

#22

Post by pilom »

jeza wrote: post #18

I gather this is the result of the increasing price of crude oil, making small oil fields that weren't previously considered viable now viable. The output of these wells is enough to essentially stop oil prices from going through the roof for the time being.

Most of this is natural gas and not crude oil. The reason these fields are now viable is because of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Before fracking, no one thought you'd ever get any oil out of that area. Now all of a sudden its all available again. Its like finding a new gusher just because you can drill deeper than you could before.

Also natural gas is WAY cheaper now that it was 5 years ago. Its so cheap that a lot of oil companies are voluntarily not pumping out of some good wells because they want to decrease supply.

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

#23

Post by pilom »

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.

My understanding was they were extracting natural gas and burning off methane. Methane is much more difficult to transport (because the molecules are so small it leaks out of everything as a gas and its very difficult to get it cold enough to be a liquid). Eventually they'll have methane transport capabilities but for the moment it just gets burned off.

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

#25

Post by hueving »

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.

> There was an terribly sad update of the "Earth at Night" satellite image showing ND lit up like a Christmas Tree

Why is it sad? The light is from lights in towns, etc, not gas fires.

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

#26

Post by protomyth »

JPKab wrote: post #19
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…

Skilled vocational workers still make the cash (and drivers for other reasons), but grunts make grunt wages. There are several state grants to get more vocational training, not only for oil but for the extremely short supply of people for infrastructure projects. Due to worker and driver shortages many building projects in the east are delayed or taking much longer than thought.

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

#27

Post by rangibaby »

eru wrote: post #17
w1ntermute wrote: post #5

That animated GIF near the bottom of the article is super creepy.

Off topic: How do these animated gifs cope with the 256 colour limit?

By using dithering. You can see it quite clearly on the guy's face if you zoom in.

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

#29

Post by thaumasiotes »

hueving wrote: post #25
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.

> There was an terribly sad update of the "Earth at Night" satellite image showing ND lit up like a Christmas Tree Why is it sad? The light is from lights in towns, etc, not gas fires.

Parent is presumably rooting for North Korea over South Korea based on the famous nighttime photos. ;)

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

#30

Post by cpeterso »

hueving wrote: post #25
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.

> There was an terribly sad update of the "Earth at Night" satellite image showing ND lit up like a Christmas Tree Why is it sad? The light is from lights in towns, etc, not gas fires.

GP might be referring to this NASA satellite image, which the article says are burning gas flares of fracking rigs:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/fracking/10463494/Fr...

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