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Stavros
05-06-2014, 10:17 PM
I wonder how many Europeans planning a trip to the USA, or for that matter Americans planning an American vacation, factor in North Dakota. For most Europeans, the USA is the East Coast, as in: New York City, Boston, Washington DC, and Philadelphia. The South is Memphis, Dallas, New Orleans, and Miami. The West is Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, maybe San Diego -but a lot of the rest of America is ignored.

North Dakota may be one of the least visited states in the Union -and not just by non-Americans. If you have anything to say about that does not include the film, Fargo, go right ahead.

I came across this vignette from a trade paper, hence the interest -in addition to accounting for the stuff Americans put in their cars, I wonder if the escort community has cottoned on (ha-ha) to the economic prospects of Williston (but note the caveat about fracking), it is known as the Flickertail State, is it not...??

From a trade publication:

A milestone is passed in America’s Upper Midwest: across North Dakota and eastern Montana, the Bakken shale formation has yielded its billionth barrel of oil.

Horizontal drilling began at the Bakken formation in 1988, but it would be the step change of hydraulic fracturing that would turn North Dakota into the second largest oil-bearing state in the US some 25 years later, with an average of 858,000 barrels produced per day in 2013. Incidentally, it was America's fourth oil state behind Texas, Alaska and California only 36 months previously.

The success of the Bakken has catapulted the US into second spot in the global oil production rankings, and cemented it as a member of the tripartite “Daily Ten Million Plus” club, alongside the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia. The Bakken’s output has been meteoric, producing the majority of its billion barrel bounty in the last 13 years. Currently above a million barrels per day (bpd), production is set to peak around the 2.7 million bpd mark in 2020.

While North Dakota's oil yield has grown by 79 per cent in the past 24 months, average well decline is brutal in the Flickertail State at approximately 65,000 bpd. This equates to some 130 new wells drilled per month to offset such a dramatic production decrease. If the present trend continues, we are likely to see a daily decline rate of 75-85,000 bpd by the end of 2014.

The Bakken made up 1/12 of US daily oil production in 2013, the North Dakotan unemployment rate is 4 per cent below national average and the population of the main oil town, Williston, has doubled in size since 2010 with rental prices now topping averages in New York City and Los Angeles. Prodigious growth is a pleasing trend but it is continuous growth that halts the slip from boom town to ghost town…

Turlington
05-07-2014, 01:42 AM
I have absolutely no reason to visit the Dakotas. The same goes for Alabama and Mississippi.

Stavros
05-07-2014, 01:44 AM
I have absolutely no reason to visit the Dakotas. The same goes for Alabama and Mississippi.

Are you an American?

dakota87
05-07-2014, 03:26 AM
I lived in North Dakota for several years. I actually liked it. The people are nice. The pace is slow (though I haven't been back since the energy boom so it might have changed) The girls are cute and have cute accents. There's lots of people from Norwegian descent who live there. Lawrence Welk was born there I believe. It does get pretty cold during the winter, but you get used to it (but it's a dry cold lol.)

Odelay
05-07-2014, 03:33 AM
I've been to NoDak probably 50 times but not so much as an adult. Lots of relatives there during the 60's and 70's. The few relatives who remain live in Fargo, which is practically not even North Dakota. On the border it's more Minnesota than Dakota. I'm pretty familiar with Western ND. Even back then you'd see the occasional oil rig doing the old vertical straw thing. Now, by all reports, life is pretty crazy there with the Bakken formation. There's a couple of other geological formations there, as well, which might produce oil in the future.

For tourists there are the badlands running through the center of the state. I guess not much else other than a few gussied up western themed small towns like Medora.

MitziMore
05-07-2014, 06:04 AM
Have never been to North Dakota. But I loved Lawrence Welk. No. Really. Well...I love bubbles!

Turlington
05-07-2014, 11:09 AM
Are you an American?

Yup...still have no reason to go.

stejav
05-07-2014, 11:23 AM
North Dakota? Don't even know where that is and don't have any interest either!

Prospero
05-07-2014, 11:52 AM
Why do you mention Fargo? It is set in Minnesota.

christianxxx
05-07-2014, 03:36 PM
I want to go and just look for the red de-icer sticking out of the ground near the fence

francisfkudrow
05-07-2014, 05:08 PM
I have absolutely no reason to visit the Dakotas. The same goes for Alabama and Mississippi.

Me neither. No plans to visit Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, or Utah for that matter.

Stavros
05-07-2014, 05:23 PM
Why do you mention Fargo? It is set in Minnesota.


The title to the film, "Fargo," is named after the city of Fargo, North Dakota. However, the city itself plays a small role in the film only being seen in a wideshot for only a few seconds following one shot scene set in a bar. The rest of the film is completely set around Minnesota, mostly in Minneapolis and Brainerd. However, due to the mild winter of Minnesota during production, much of the film was, in fact, shot in North Dakota. On an interview on the Special Edition DVD, the Coens claimed that they titled the movie "Fargo" because it sounded more interesting than "Brainerd."
Why did the Coens titled the movie Fargo than Brainerd? (http://askville.amazon.com/Coens-titled-movie-Fargo-Brainerd/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=62557181)