Energy Insider: Bakken Buzz | Video

Kevin Boughton | 7/15/2011

Across the nation and in global oil markets western North Dakota`s Bakken oil formation is turning heads - that`s no secret. But what makes our oil so attractive to oil companies and investors?

North Dakota is now the 4th largest oil producing state in the Union. The crude oil that sits 10,000 feet underground has been attracting attention for years now, but getting that black gold to the surface and on to markets is expensive.

"It`s the good and the bad but it`s proving to be very good at this point," said Trisha Curtis, a research analyst for a the Energy Policy Research Foundation in Washington, D.C. She said as North Dakota`s oil industry matures it will lead to long term gains.

"As more infrastructure develops and you get Bakken crude to the right markets you`d raise the price for what you`d be getting at the well head for the producer in the Bakken region."

That potential is what is attracting interest from investors.

"The economics are just very appealing right now. The Williston Basin, the core area, gets bigger and bigger and bigger as more drilling is occuring," said Marty Beskow, a equity analyst for a capital markets group in Minneapolis. He said as drilling success rates grow with technological advances so will interest from the business sector looking to invest.

"It`s that the production from the wells continues to get better and better as time passes," said Beskow.

Oil exploration and drilling that has provided a spark for North Dakota`s economy seems ready to light a fire storm of economic growth in the future.

North Dakota`s crude oil production has tripled since 2005.

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