Oil Boom In North Dakota: Putting On A Happy Face

摘要

As part of a record-setting industry meeting in May at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in North Dakota, Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple offered a keynote speech with one superlative after another about his sparsely populated, but energy- and agriculture-rich state. It seems his state is leading the nation in a number of categories these days, including having the happiest residents. Perhaps the happiness, as defined by an anonymous national polling organization, is a reflection of the fact that this year North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the country and the fastest growing economy. That, in turn, reflects an area of the United States where the growth in infrastructure generally, and in energy specifically, has been struggling to keep up with demand for ever-more oil and natural gas. For the pipeline and related businesses this represents both a blessing and a whole series of challenges.