That cost may start coming down if the drillers can switch to powering their rigs with natural gas, as is being done in other places. It’s a big initial investment for the rig operators to switch their pumps, generators and trucks to NatGas, but with NatGas prices at an all time low now that payback is just a few years.
Also, as SD/ND/MT catch up on infrastructure (housing, etc.) the premiums being paid to woo employees should subside to some extent.
Check out the newest shale deposit now being drilled:
Estimates range from 3 to 7 billion barrels of recoverable oil plus natural gas in a area where a lot of infrastructure needed to get the oil and natural gas to market already exists!