With the commercialization of horizontal drilling techniques and hydraulic fracturing, North Dakota’s Bakken Formation has quickly become one of the United States’ largest oil producing areas, second only to Texas. At over 200,000 square miles, the Bakken Formation stretches from North Dakota into Montana and Canada. Originally estimated to contain up to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil, the US Geological Survey in 2013 revised their estimate of recoverable oil upward to 7.4 billion barrels.
The resultant oil boom has transformed much of western North Dakota and allowed the state to boast one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. Even in the currently volatile oil markets, over 900,000 barrels of oil are still being pumped out of North Dakota every day.