Free Republic

Five states and the Gulf of Mexico supplied more than 80%, or 6 million barrels per day, of the crude oil (including lease condensate) produced in the United States in 2013. Texas alone provided almost 35%, according to preliminary 2013 data released in EIA's March Petroleum Supply Monthly. The second-largest state producer was North Dakota with 12% of U.S. crude oil production, followed by California and Alaska at close to 7% each and Oklahoma at 4%. The federal offshore Gulf of Mexico produced 17%. Total U.S. crude oil production grew 15% in 2013 to 7.4 million barrels per day. Texas...

Will Obama use two small birds to limit oil drilling in the West? Almost half the land west of the Mississippi belongs to the federal government, including 48% of California, 62% of Idaho and 81% of Nevada. No surprise that the Obama Administration wants to control more. But the result could be to suppress the country's booming oil and gas development. In partnership with green activists, the Department of Interior may attempt one of the largest federal land grabs in modern times, using a familiar vehicle—the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A record 757 new species could be added to the...

It should come as no surprise The New York Times would bury news of a conservative victory over President Obama on page eight. The lead paragraph said it all: Senate Democrats, bowing to united House Republican opposition, dropped reforms of International Monetary Fund governance from a Ukraine aid package on Tuesday. The real question is whether this was merely a moment in time or a seminal shift in how congressional Republicans will approach future showdowns. And to be clear, future showdowns are inevitable if we are to achieve any conservative policy victories. Before going further, it is important to explain...

Looking for a job? North Dakota wants you. In a new recruiting campaign to be rolled out in May, the North Dakota Economic Development Foundation is aiming to fill more than 20,000 jobs -- ranging from truck drivers and oilfield workers to receptionists and food servers. North Dakota's huge oil boom has spurred thousands of job seekers to flock to the state for years now. In some cities, the population has quadrupled. Yet, the growth continues and companies are still so desperate for workers that the state is teaming up with oil giant Hess Corp. to launch an $800,000 campaign...

North Dakota and its only abortion clinic have resolved part of their dispute over the state’s new abortion law, meaning the facility will remain open. At issue was the requirement that physicians performing abortions have hospital privileges. The state and clinic agreed that doctors at the Red River Women's Clinic would maintain such privileges. The agreement was announced Friday by the state and the Center for Reproductive Rights, which assisted the clinic, located in Fargo. The stipulation ends a lawsuit over the requirement, which was included in the 2013 law and threatened to close the women’s health facility. The hospital...

FARGO – A second woman has come forward to tell authorities she was a kidnapping and rape victim of the accused “vampire trucker” authorities arrested in November at Moorhead truck stop. Timothy Jay Vafeades, 54, appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court here on kidnapping, child pornography and transportation for illegal sex charges filed in Utah. Kidnapping charges filed against him in Clay County District Court were dropped after the filing of federal charges. According to the case filed against him in federal court, a second woman came forward after seeing news reports of Vafeades’ arrest in Minnesota. She contacted the...

The productivity of oil and natural gas wells is steadily increasing in many basins across the United States because of the increasing precision and efficiency of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in oil and natural gas extraction. Many resource-producing basins are experiencing an increasing yield over time in either oil (Bakken, Eagle Ford, Niobrara) or natural gas (Marcellus, Haynesville). The geology of each oil and natural gas resource play is diverse, and individual rig or well performance can vary dramatically. However, drilling activity in U.S. shale plays is now generally producing greater quantities of oil and/or natural gas than in...

As the search for natural resources takes the industry to remote locations and developing areas – while creating thousands of new jobs and rapid economic growth – the demand for quality workforce housing intensifies. What was meant to be a temporary accommodation, has now become a permanent home for oilfield workers as the North American energy boom revitalizes cities throughout the region. The energy renaissance in North America has seen its working population swell by as much as 70 percent in certain regions, mainly driven by oilfield workers and those in fringe industries such as construction and transportation. “Many companies...

...a 600-foot oceangoing oil tanker called the Stena Primorsk left the Port of Albany on its maiden voyage down the Hudson River laden with 279,000 barrels of crude oil. It quickly ran aground on a sandbar. ...The ship’s outer hull was breached, but a second hull prevented a spill. Still, the interrupted voyage just 12 miles south of the port signaled a remarkable turnaround for the state’s capital. With little fanfare, this sleepy port has been quietly transformed into a major hub for oil shipments by trains from North Dakota and a key supplier to refiners on the East Coast....

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...