page_title: North Dakota oil boom
hierarchical_section_title: North Dakota oil boom
caption_attribution_description: English: Helmerich &amp; Payne Flex Rig drilling the Bakken
context_page_description: The North Dakota oil boom refers to the period of rapidly expanding oil extraction from the Bakken formation in the state of North Dakota that lasted from the discovery of Parshall Oil Field in 2006, and peaked in 2012, but with substantially less growth noted since 2015 due to a global decline in oil prices. Despite the Great Recession, the oil boom resulted in enough jobs to provide North Dakota with the lowest unemployment rate in the United States. The boom has given North Dakota, a state with a 2013 population of about 725,000, a billion-dollar budget surplus. North Dakota, which ranked 38th in per capita gross domestic product in 2001, rose steadily with the Bakken boom, and now has per capita GDP 29% above the national average.
  The oil boom is largely due to the successful use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, which have made tight oil deposits recoverable Contributing to the boom was a push to commence drilling and production on oil and gas leases before the expiration of their primary term, commonly three to five years, at which time the leases would terminate unless a producing well were drilled on the lease.
context_section_description: The North Dakota oil boom refers to the period of rapidly expanding oil extraction from the Bakken formation in the state of North Dakota that lasted from the discovery of Parshall Oil Field in 2006, and peaked in 2012, but with substantially less growth noted since 2015 due to a global decline in oil prices. Despite the Great Recession, the oil boom resulted in enough jobs to provide North Dakota with the lowest unemployment rate in the United States. The boom has given North Dakota, a state with a 2013 population of about 725,000, a billion-dollar budget surplus. North Dakota, which ranked 38th in per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 2001, rose steadily with the Bakken boom, and now has per capita GDP 29% above the national average.
  The oil boom is largely due to the successful use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, which have made tight oil deposits recoverable Contributing to the boom was a push to commence drilling and production on oil and gas leases before the expiration of their primary term, commonly three to five years, at which time the leases would terminate unless a producing well were drilled on the lease. But once production is established, the leases continue as long as oil and gas are continually produced.
caption: A Helmerich & Payne flex rig drilling the Bakken.
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