Oil event bringing more than 1,000 people to Minot
By ELOISE OGDEN, Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com
POSTED: April 18, 2008
Fact Box
New permits rapidly risingBISMARCK – The number of new oil and gas permits issued by the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division is two and a half times higher than the number at this time last year, said Bruce Hicks, assistant director of the division.
Hicks said Thursday that currently, 246 new permits have been issued by the division.
Also, currently, 66 drilling rigs are actively working in the oil fields in the state.
The Oil and Gas Divison is a division of the N.D. Industrial Commission’s Department of Mineral Resources. The Oil and Gas Division regulates the drilling and production of oil and gas in N.D.
– Eloise Ogden
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As of Thursday, 1,090 people had registered for the event, according to officials with the North Dakota Petroleum Council in Bismarck, one of the sponsors for the event.
But more people are expected to attend, probably in the neighborhood of 1,150 to 1,200 people when the event gets under way April 27. It runs through April 29.
Some motels in the city are filled and no longer have vacancies during that time, according to N.D. Petroleum Council information.
The biannual conference brings together engineers, geologists, landmen, CEOs and government officials with interests in the exploration and development of the Williston Basin’s oil and gas resources.
People will be attending from all over the country and Canada, said N.D. Petroleum Council officials. The N.D. Department of Mineral Resources and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources also are conference hosts.
Earlier predictions were that the event would bring in around 700 people. The conference held in Minot in 2006 had what was considered high attendance of 550 people, so the majority of events for this year’s conference were moved to the All Seasons Arena.
Sunday’s opening events will be in the Holiday Inn Riverside Convention Center. Monday and Tuesday’s events will be in the All Seasons Arena.
The more than 1,000 attendees includes those participating in the Prospect Expo. More than 160 exhibitors have reserved sites at the expo in the All Seasons Arena.
Among the highlights of the conference will be the official release of the N.D. Department of Mineral Resource’s Bakken Reserves Study. Lynn Helms, director of the Mineral Resources Department, is scheduled to announce the study findings April 28.
The study will have more specific information about North Dakota counties than a study released last week by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The oil and gas industry in North Dakota got a major boost when the U.S. Geological Survey reported last week that North Dakota and Montana have as much as 4.3 billion barrels of oil that could be recovered from what is known as the Bakken Formation.
