NEW ENGLAND — The company that withdrew its application to build a $250 million wind farm in eastern Stark County isn’t giving up on southwest North Dakota.
A spokesperson for Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources said Thursday that it is “looking at multiple options” in the area for a future wind project.
“That’s about as specific as I can be at this point,” Steven Stengel, NextEra’s director of communications, said Thursday in an email to The Press. He added that NextEra is continuing to speak with its stakeholders about projects that will address their concerns.
Dakota Prairie Refining plant manager Dave Podratz, left, and MDU Resources public relations manager Tim Rasmussen stand outside the gates of the Dickinson, N.D., refinery on Monday after it started producing its first diesel fuel. (Dustin Monke / The Dickinson Press)
RURAL DICKINSON — Dave Podratz, still wearing his hard hat, safety glasses and coveralls, walked into a conference room at Dakota Prairie Refining’s main office building Monday afternoon and sat a small glass jar containing clear liquid on the table.
The jar is soon to become a keepsake. It contains some of the first diesel fuel created from Bakken crude oil at the refinery facility west of Dickinson.
After more than two years of construction and testing, the approximately $425 million refinery — the first greenfield refinery built in the United States since 1976 — began making product over the weekend and is now storing it in preparation for sale.
“It’s been a long process,” said Podratz, the refinery’s plant manager.
Construction on the facility, which is jointly owned and operated by MDU Resources Group and Calumet Specialty Products Partners, began March 26, 2013, with a groundbreaking at the 318-acre site about four miles west of Dickinson.
Tom Wilson, left, and his brother-in-law Dan Johnson, both of Buffalo, S.D., have manufactured a device that removes hydrogen sulfide, commonly known as the deadly gas H2S, from crude oil. They were at the Bakken Oil Product and Service Show on April 15 at the West River Ice Center in Dickinson, N.D., during the third week of April to tout their device and talk with others about its potential. (Dustin Monke / The Dickinson Press)
An oilfield veteran and a retired schoolteacher believe they have found a method of removing deadly hydrogen sulfide gas from crude oil at wellsites without using chemicals in the process.
Dan Johnson and Tom Wilson, brothers-in-law from Buffalo, S.D., and cofounders of Blue Bull Lamont, gave a short presentation April 15 at the Bakken Oil and Product Show in Dickinson about their machinery and methods they say have been proven to eliminate the gas commonly known as H2S.
The new company — which is funded by and shares a name with Aberdeen, S.D.-based venture capital and private equity firm Lamont Enterprises — has patented a 40-feet-by-8-feet mobile processing unit that was fabricated in Johnson’s Dickinson shop and has been proven by independent oil-testing laboratories to work at wellsites in the Bakken.
“We dreamed it up, we proved it, we patented it,” Wilson said.
Command Center branch manager Kristen Vesledahl, left, speaks to staffing specialist Rena Olheiser on April 22 at their downtown Dickinson, N.D.,office. Vesledahl and Olheiser said more people are coming to their staffing service looking for work since the oil prices dropped. (Dustin Monke / The Dickinson Press)
A few weeks ago, a man walked into Command Center, a temporary labor and staffing service in downtown Dickinson, and said he needed a job after being laid off from a high-paying position on an oil rig.
The man said he’d only work for $35 an hour, needed a minimum of 50 hours guaranteed each week, and wanted his housing paid for along with a $150 a day per diem.
After realizing the man wasn’t joking, staffing specialist Rena Olheiser responded in the kindest manner she could muster.
“Well good luck with that,” she said with a smile.
The days of high wages, overtime, free meals and company housing for many oil workers in the Bakken are coming to an end. At least for now.
This is especially true around Dickinson, where there isn’t a drilling rig within 50 miles and likely won’t be until the price of oil climbs back to levels oil companies deem profitable.
“I tell them here, ‘Everyone is expendable. Everyone,’” said Kristen Vesledahl, Command Center’s branch manager.
The slowdown of oil production and drilling in the Bakken Oil Patch is apparent even in the sales and trade areas.
Foot traffic was a little slow at times Wednesday during the inaugural Bakken Oil Product & Service Show, exhibitors said, but picked up in the afternoon as attendees stayed busy networking and showcasing new products at the West River Ice Center. The trade show continues at 9 a.m. today.
“We’re seeing some of the effects of the slowdown,” said Jeff Zarling, president of DAWA Solutions Group, which promoted the event. “Just like everybody else in the marketplace, we’re waiting to see what’s going to happen and anxious to see when things are going to accelerate again.”
More than 200 exhibitors from across the country showcased products and services, and exchanged information while hundreds of others walked the Ice Center talking to business owners and representatives, taking in product demonstrations and workshops.
“Everybody likes to see lots of people, but there’s also the fact that they like to see quality people,” Zarling said. “It only takes one to make it all worth it.”
Dustin Monke 