Building the Bakken Radio Show Part 1: Intro and Feature Story

Is the Bakken a technology boom or an oil boom?

Host Jason Spiess interviews former North Dakota governor and current Continental Resources board member Ed Schafer about how important technology is in the Bakken oil boom. His answer prompted us to ask other industry experts whether the Bakken was a tech boom. Schafer said the current technology is only getting about 5% of the oil out of the ground, and as the technology improves, more oil can be extracted from the ground.

Venture capitalist Steve Fifita agreed with Schafer. Fifita’s background is in technology emerging markets and sees many of the same inflection points. Fifita said a theology disruption is what opened the market.

Jeff Zarling, Williston native and founder of Dawa Solutions Group, said this oil boom is different. He said it isn’t “a bunch of roughnecks out there slinging chain and hitting the bars at night.”. Zarling said Richard Finley changed the world when he applied horizontal drilling and hydraulic fraking in the Elm Coulee Field. Zarling added it is all about tweaking and changing the technology within the Bakken to reach the 413 billion barrels below the earth’s surface

Joseph Mahan, economist Minneapolis Federal Reserve, said the technology boom was an interesting angle, but the Bakken is clearly an oil boom. He went on to say that what the grain of truth in Schafer’s comments were that it is technology that is clearly driving the access to the oil to create the boom. He also added a relatively favorable price of oil for the past decade has contributed to the Bakken success.

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