I am often asked about the relative position of oil and other industries in the ND economy. Usually this is me being asked to settle a dispute between industries as to who is more important or some such nonsense. However, the issue of oil in the North Dakota economy is worth revisiting right now given the decline in oil price and the effects on the state revenue forecast.
This is a really excellent piece by Lutz Killian that summarizes much of the current information about shale production as well as its implications. One of the issues recognized by Killian, at least implicitly, is that time and costs are not necessarily on the side of the promises of a revolution.
Continue reading Lutz Killian on shale oil, US oil & gasoline
The shale oil expansion began in North Dakota, and the expansion of oil output in the U.S. has been nothing short of revolutionary. However, I think it is time to recognize that the fanciful notion of “energy independence” is less and less likely to happen, if it ever really had a chance. We are surely less dependent on foreign oil as the graph shows, but it is not clear that it is going to go to zero anytime soon, if ever.