Sidney Herald
Tappin’ the Bakken
WedneSday, oct. 30, 2013
3
‘Significant’ global demand for Bakken investment information Sherman said producing the guide was a “first step” in addressing investment opportunities in the Bakken on a global scale. The guide has all original research When a cigarette is offered and a person accepts, it is standard etiquette to and discusses the most important areas of investment in the Bakken and which stand and smoke with them. companies are looking for partners. This social cue was one of several “You go to Sidney, you go to Williston different methods the Montana World and say, ‘What do you need?’ and the Trade Center counted on while conductanswer is, ‘Everything,’ ” Sherman said. ing on-the-ground Bakken research for “If somebody says, ‘I can sell my project investors. to Continental Oil.’ Well, who do you After offering Bakken truckers a cigatalk to? Where do you meet them? How rette, the truckers would typically stay do you find them? Where’s the phone and chat for a few minutes. number? Who’s in charge of the Bakken “We had five to 10 questions we asked for them?” every one of them. ‘So, how long have The six prime “tapping” opportuniyou been driving for these guys?’ and ties in the Bakken, which consists of ‘Would you leave?’ and ‘If you were goimproving housing and quality of life, ing to start a new business, right now, healthy and effective solid waste disbased on what you’ve seen, what would posal, access to in-demand equipment you start?’ ”Arnie Sherman, executive and services, supplying operational and director of the Montana World Trade portable water, environmentally safe Center, said. wastewater disposal and recycling and From Amsterdam to Canada, to the providing transportation and logistics United Kingdom and Holland, foreign options. companies interested in investing in the Research for the guide was conducted Bakken oil fields has increased, and the over a span of two months in the spring Montana World Trade Center receives of 2012. “We needed to know what was the bulk of it. going on, so we made visits, I sent staff “The Montana World Trade Center, up, we talked to everybody from truck over the last few years, has been redrivers to business owners sponding to a significant economic development amount of demand from ‘Whether we wanted it and people, and then we put the businesses, not only in report together,” Sherman Montana but around the or not, the Bakken has said. world, about the Bakken An overview of the oil field, and what’s gomonopolized a lot of Bakken is provided in the ing on, and how do you opening pages of the guide. get engaged,” Sherman said. “Whether we want- the time and energy for According to the guide, “In less than five years, the ed it or not, the Bakken United States will be the has monopolized a lot of the World Trade center World’s #1 Oil-Producing the time and energy for Nation.” It further exthe World Trade Center organization.’ plains, “If wells continue to organization.” develop at the current pace, In response to the a production rate of 1.5 request for information, arnie Sherman million barrels per day will research on business be realized by 2023. That opportunities was Montana World trade center rate can conservatively be conducted and printed sustained for an additional in a Bakken investment 25 years.” guide published by Global Development One question asked by investors and Services, Inc. printed in the guide is, “In the face of “It’s a 40 page guide and it’s actually enormous growth and limited services sold out in print…We printed 500 copand resources, why is it so difficult to ies and we were selling them at $100 a enter the Bakken market?” The guide expiece,” Sherman said. “…if you look at plains that “the Bakken is an immature any reports related to oil and gas, some playing field,” “production is not yet at of them are $2,000. So we’re actually capacity,” and many companies “have a priced at the very low end of what a frontier mentality.” report like this would command.” The fast-paced growth of the Bakken is “Tapping Opportunity in the Bakken: also demonstrated in numbers. AccordA Guide to Business and Investment in ing to the guide, there are more than 300 the World’s Largest New Oil Reserve,” companies dealing with oil leases, and the official title of the guide, is also prior to 2005, 90 percent of these compasponsored by the Missoula Economic nies were not active. Partnership. By SuSan Minichiello Sidney Herald
arnie e. SHerMan | courteSy
Arnie Sherman, executive director of the Montana World Trade Center, at the “Bakken and Eggs” event in Winnipeg, Manitoba, holds a copy of the Bakken investor guide. A synopsis on fracking and the Bakken formation is also included in the overview. The oil field was discover in 1953 by Henry Bakken, and it is estimated to have between 20-45 billion barrels of oil. Concerns over frack fluid toxicity are somewhat debunked. According to the guide’s overview, “In actuality, 99 percent of the mixture is water and sand components with the oil reaching depths never recoverable by water aquifers.” After completing its on-the-ground, original research for the guide, the Montana World Trade Center began conducting seminars from a business and investment perspective. Sherman said he mainly explains how to enter the oil and gas field from the Montana side. Seminars and presentations by the Montana World Trade Center regarding the Bakken have been given in Canada, Holland, Salt Lake City, Utah, and more. Sherman recalled a recent visit to Amsterdam, where 75 companies showed up.
“It fits in areas where there are businesses and companies that have capabilities to work in natural resource areas. They have interests first hand in hearing about what’s going on from a business perspective,” Sherman said. “It’s all about what are the business and investment opportunities?” At an event in Winnipeg, 370 people attended, including former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who gave a speech that included his knowledge of the oil and gas industry. “There are a lot of companies in Canada that would like come and invest and work in the Montana side. The border has really been an obstacle,” Sherman said. “Of the 370 people that came to lunch, very few of them, very few of these Canadian companies have ever come across to work in Montana.” Canadian companies are in luck, as a Canadian Trade Mission will take place in Sidney and Williston on Nov. 6-7.