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Since 2010, the phrase "rising service intensity" of unconventional drilling and completions has become a household term. What this refers to is the fact that more stages per well and longer horizontal laterals demand more of oil service contractors than ever before. More proppant, more frac fluid, more horsepower, more water, more infrastructure, more transportation, etc. Several other associated trends include more wells drilled per rig and rising service company revenues per rig. A phrase you don't hear as often is "rising labor intensity" of unconventional drilling and completions. But we would argue that this is just as important. Just...

Lucy Meg Quinit, pictured Friday at Trinity Health in Minot, is one of a group of 86 nurses from the Philippines recruited to work in Minot.MINOT, N.D. – Filipino nurse Lucy Meg Quinit thought she and her family would miss home more as they adjust to a new life in North Dakota. But Quinit is among more than 80 nurses from the Philippines that Trinity Health in Minot has recently hired, and the new recruits have formed their own support community. “That’s one of the reasons we’re not getting so homesick,” said Quinit, who has worked for Trinity Health for...

As far as big cities go, Houston isn’t so bad when it comes to renting a small apartment, according to a survey from Apartment Guide. That’s especially true when you compare prices against one surprising little town. The group lists the average monthly cost for a one-bedroom apartment in Houston at $817. Compare that to Los Angeles, where you’ll pay an average of $1,411 for the same dwelling. In the New York area, you can expect that to cost around $1,500. But those aren’t the highest rent costs in the country. That honor goes to Williston, N.D., where the average...

ROGERS, Minn. (KMSP) - The student body at Rogers High School has Reid Sagehorn's back. "He's got the whole school behind him. We all believe this isn't right," junior Cole Murray said. Sagehorn is a big man on campus. He's smart, good looking, captain of the football and basketball teams, a National Honor Society member with a 3.75 grade point average and plans to attend North Dakota State University in the fall. However, a certain Twitter conversation has banned him from school. An anonymous tweet was posted suggesting Sagehorn may have made out with a young, attractive gym teacher at...

For the fifth consecutive year, North Dakota topped all other states in employee perceptions of job creation at their workplaces in 2013, as measured by the Gallup Job Creation Index. North Dakota's +40 index score easily surpasses the District of Columbia's and South Dakota's second-place +30 scores. Rhode Island workers saw the least job creation, with a +12 score. Gallup's Job Creation Index is a measure of net hiring, determined by asking full- and part-time U.S. workers, aged 18 and older, whether their employer is hiring new people and expanding the size of its workforce, not changing the size of...

Take a look at where the "green" regions are. That's right, precisely where the shale revolution is picking up pace- primarily the Bakken, Eagle Ford, and Marcellus Shale Plays, is where you see increases in median household income from 2007 to 2012. Indeed, the oil and gas industry continues to be an important part of economic recovery.

A Predator drone designed to catch terrorists in Afghanistan was used to track a recalcitrant North Dakota rancher and his sons accused of cattle thieving and monitor them to see when they were unarmed and alert the police in a case believed to be the first where an American citizen was arrested with the aid of a drone. On Jan. 14, 2014, Rodney Brossart was acquitted of stealing cattle and criminal mischief, but convicted of terrorizing police (a conviction he is appealing) and sentenced to three years in prison with all but six months suspended. This all stems from an...

BNSF plans to invest $5 billion in its railroad this year, including $900 million to expand capacity in the Northern Plains where crude oil shipments are surging. The railroad said Tuesday its 2014 spending plan is roughly $1 billion higher than last year. BNSF says it’s responding to significant volume growth. Some projects should help alleviate congestion near the booming Bakken oil field in North Dakota and Montana...

An unusual coalition of lawmakers from both parties, labor and business leaders, veterans groups and Canada's ambassador to the United States joined forces Tuesday to push for quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Five Democrats joined Republicans at a Capitol news conference to urge President Barack Obama to approve the pipeline following a State Department report last week that raised no major environmental objections. The $7 billion pipeline would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The project has lingered for more than five years and has become a symbol...

Government investigators have found crude oil being transported from North Dakota’s Bakken region was misclassified in samples taken from 11 out of 18 truck shipments en route to rail loading stations, federal transportation officials said Tuesday. Hazardous materials shipments are supposed to be classified into one of nine categories depending on the risk involved. If the materials are misclassified, they could wind up being shipped in less protective rail tank cars and emergency personnel might follow the wrong protocols when responding to a spill. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said it has proposed fining three companies involved in...

The State Department today released its long-awaited environmental impact analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline. The analysis is key because President Obama announced last summer he would not approve the pipeline unless it was found to have no significant impact on climate change. And that’s what the analysis finds. It argues, as many other analysts have concluded, that if we block the pipeline, Canada will just ship the oil out by rail. So, what public policy reason is there to block the pipeline? There really isn’t one. Indeed, the environmentalists' obsession with Keystone began as a gigantic mistake. Two and...

January 31, 2014, 03:09 pm Keystone pipeline clears hurdle By Laura Barron-Lopez The controversial Keystone XL pipeline cleared a major hurdle on Friday as the State Department ruled the project wouldnÂ’t significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions. The finding puts the pipeline one step closer to approval, and sets up a new battle between environmental groups and oil companies over whether the project is in the national interest. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the project reiterates key parts of a draft analysis released early last year, finding that oil sands extraction would continue regardless of whether the pipeline is built....

It’s no coincidence that sage grouse habitat also happens to intersect both the largest untapped coal deposits in the country as well as large parts of the Bakken oil field. It’s clear the primary motivation to focus on sage grouse for ESA listing is to provide yet another tool for special interest groups to block energy development. And in this obstructionist toolbox, there’s no heavier sledgehammer than the Endangered Species Act. What an interesting irony, then, that so much effort is going into “protecting” one bird from energy development, when the Obama administration is turning a blind eye to hundreds...

<p>A North Dakota farmer convicted of terrorizing law officers two years ago is the first American to be sentenced to prison with the help of a Predator drone, Forbes reported.</p> <p>Rodney Brossart, who was accused at the time of stealing six cows from a neighbor, was arrested after a summer-long standoff in 2011. Authorities say Brossart family members refused to allow deputies on their farmstead and didn't show up for court hearings.</p>

Among Washington's most important but rarely covered realities is the daily close coordination among Democratic politicians, executive branch bureaucrats and the left side of the non-profit activism community. Emails obtained recently through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute exposed a slice of that coordination in the campaign to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The emails show, according to Fox News correspondent John Roberts, "senior policy officials at the EPA working closely with environmental groups in what appears to be an effort to kill the pipeline."...

Inquiring minds are digging into a George Washington University paper on State Fiscal Conditions, a ranking of 50 states, by Sarah Arnett. PolicyMic Produced this Chart of State Fiscal Conditions based on the working paper. Highlights and Lowlights Let's return to the original working paper for some highlights and lowlights. At the bottom of the rankings are New Jersey and Illinois. New Jersey faces long-run solvency problems due in part to nearly 15 years of underfunding its state and local pensions. It has an estimated unfunded pension liability of around $25.6 billion as well as $59.3 billion in unfunded liabilities...

Abundant, low-cost energy courtesy of the shale revolution incentivizes chemical producers and manufacturers to shorten their respective supply chains and return production facilities to the United States. As a result, railroads, trucking companies, marine shippers and even airlines are well-positioned to enjoy new growth opportunities. So says PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which recently released a study outlining how transportation and logistics companies should benefit from oil and gas production from shale plays. Key conclusions of the report, "Shale energy: A potential game-changer," include: In addition to moving greater volumes of crude oil from shale plays, railroads provide a flexible and cost-effective option...

Where crude oil is concerned, Canada waits for no country. It doesn’t matter how wealthy or how friendly that country is -- or whether that country is the United States. With the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline stuck in limbo on the U.S. side, Canada’s Energy Board recently gave a thumbs up to a $6.5 billion pipeline designed to carry 525,000 barrels of oil per day from the oil sands of Alberta to ships on the British Columbia coast. The final destination is most likely Asia. The development has the U.S. oil industry attacking the Obama administration over its drawn-out process....

Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said he thinks President Obama will approve the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. In the wake of multiple crude-by-rail train accidents in North Dakota -- leaving railcars ablaze and nearby residents at risk --Hoeven said on "Platts Energy Week" that the U.S. needs more pipelines. The U.S. needs pipelines "not only to improve conditions in terms of rail, but trucks," Hoeven said on Sunday. "With the Keystone pipeline, we'd take 500 trucks a day off our roads in western North Dakota." "So clearly pipelines are a part of the solution. But also we have to do everything...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blocked a last-ditch effort by Republicans Thursday to restore full military pensions. Their proposal would have been paid for by denying tax credits to undocumented immigrants. Pensions to retired and disabled veterans were cut last month in a budget compromise hammered out by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., according to the Washington Free Beacon.