A production site in the Bakken oil patch as seen from inside an abandoned farmhouse just outside Watford City, N.D. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
A production site in the Bakken oil patch as seen from inside an abandoned farmhouse just outside Watford City, N.D.
David Gilkey/NPRLow oil prices are causing a drop in new drilling and exploration in North Dakota, but not as much as you might expect.
Take the boom town of Watford City, over in the northwestern corner of the state and in the heart of the Bakken oil patch. Its population has tripled since 2010, and today, continues to climb.
When I visited a year ago for our series on the Great Plains Oil Rush, the price of oil was above $100 a barrel. When I went back recently — with the headlines warning of a crash coming fresh in my mind — it was below $50; a 50 percent decrease in a year. I figured I'd come upon empty hotels, the skeletons of half-built condos and people out of work ...
Yeah, not so much.
'Still Hiring'
My hotel room still cost about $200 a night. The Cashwise grocery store was still packed with roustabout men hauling out cases of Red Bull and boxes of Hungry Jack pancake mix (just about every state in the nation was represented via the license plates in the parking lot). And outside town, the drill rigs were still lighting up the frozen prairie like Christmas trees.
If there's a slowdown in North Dakota, it isn't really being felt in Watford City.
"I think it's still growing, " said Ashley Bones. "There are still people buying homes and a lot of people coming in here still looking for jobs."
A view of the main street in downtown Watford City, which is usually bustling as people shop and work. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption
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