Oil Seminar Has Boom in Interest

If you listen closely you can almost hear the boom on the horizon from the oil industry Oil companies are flocking to the area hoping to claim their stake in the Bakken Formation It s an oil deposit that is estimated to contain 4 billion barrels of oil or more And it seems just about anyone with an interest in oil will be in Minot this weekend Shaun Sipma explains It s all the buzz these days it s black gold but don t dare call it Texas Tea This sweet crude is beneath North Dakota farm fields pastures and even some of our lakes and oil companies are chasing the boundaries of the Bakken that are flowing headlong into the central part of the state Curt Zimbelman Minot Mayor There no question it s not only headed our way it s already here It s already begun Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman says the interest is already booming and this weekend at the 16th Annual Williston Basin Petroleum Conference and Prospect Expo in Minot officials are expecting a record number of people who are are tapping into oil Curt Zimbelman Minot Mayor This conference is attracted probably twice as many people or registrants as they ve had in the past Ron Ness ND Petroleum Council People are coming to this conference specifically to try and learn about the techniques and the completion techniques being used in the Bakken formation what other prospects in the Bakken formation either in North Dakota or into Saskatchewan and other oil and gas places in the Williston Basin Ron Ness with the North Dakota Petroleum Council says the Expo has evolved over the years and now almost everyone from the rig deck up on is expected at the conference Ron Ness ND Petroleum Council All of the CEO s of some of the companies the landmenland-men the marketing people pipeline people all of the people that are providing goods and services to the industry so it s a wide array of industry right now and it s truly blown up beyond what we anticipated here Ness and Zimbelman agree that this is a sign of things to come for the entire area With the price of oil now hovering around 120 a barrel the Bakken Buzz has almost reached a frenzy and companies are anxiously eyeing Western and Central North Dakota as the next big sweet crude capitol in the U S Curt Zimbelman Minot Mayor I think it can be just a tremendous asset for your community Shaun Sipma KX News Officials are expecting over 12-hundred people for Conference It starts Sunday at the State Fair Center and the Holiday Inn