magazine

through a power turbine that turns a generator.”
Gosnold says the infrastructure needed
to run the system already exists and is easy to
bring to the oilfields.
In May, the partnership will bring a
geothermal power plant online in Bowman
County, ND; the power plant will consist
of two high-efficiency organic Rankin cycle
engines that will convert heat from a Continental
Resources water production well. The
system should generate 250 kW of electricity
to power other producing and water injection
wells in the area. According to Gosnold,
North Dakota has the power potential of
roughly 4.0 GW from oilfield fluids.
Vicky Steiner, executive director for the
North Dakota Association of Oil & Gas Producing
Counties, presented on a panel titled,
“Policy, Regulation and Economics: A 2014
Shale Energy Update,” with other national
and local experts. Steiner’s presentation covered
oil taxes in the current biennium. John
Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum
Institute, presented on facts he uses
to address energy policy in the United States.
Next year’s event will follow the same
structure and theme of innovation, adding
more topics and industry experts, researchers
and operator-affiliated speakers to talk about
the innovative technologies or strategies responsible
for making the Bakken and Three
Forks formations global hotspots for shale oil
development.
Building Business in the
Bakken
Prior to the conference and expo, a oneday
event, “Building Business in the Bakken,”
was held to provide insight and perspective
from successful companies that operate in or
outside of the oil producing regions of the
Bakken.
To start the event, a panel of economic
developers and chamber of commerce members
informed and energized the crowd about
the reality and potential present in the Bakken
circa 2014. Tom Rolfstad, executive director
for the Williston Economic Development
Corp., addressed the question that all
developers wanted an answer to: “How long
will this last?” His opening, safe harbor presentation
provision was his answer.
“Everyone in the Bakken is struggling
to keep up with things, so in the interest of
time, please use this presentation as a means
of learning what is happening. Please use
your own judgment in evaluating what it
means to you. This is the way I see the world
at the present time. Change is constant here,”
he read to the crowd. “So, I can assure you
that how I see the world will change again in
30 days. It will just get bigger.”
A roundtable discussion on the current state of the industry provided attendees with insight into
the development of the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations. The panel included Luke
Geiver, editor of The Bakken magazine (left), Patrick Montalban, president of exploration and
production firm Mountainview Energy, (middle), Trent Howard, director of oilfield services for
KLJ Inc. (right) and Terry Palisch, global engineering advisor for CARBO.
Exhibitors at the event included proven companies and start-ups providing services or
technologies, all geared toward the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations. In total, the exhibit
space included 160 exhibitors. All photos in this article are provided by The Bakken magazine.
Joe Rothschiller, president of the Dickinson-based
manufacturing company, provided
insight into his vision for building
the company’s capabilities. For Rothschiller,
the business model focused on providing
solutions has been a boon to the company.
“We design, build and market sustainable,
high-value added, innovative manufactured
solutions for the energy, construction
and other industries,” he says. The
company has already designed several well
pad products, including a proven flare handling
product.
In 2014, the company is focused on
bringing more products to market, including
tank-to-tank piping and UL listed oilfield
control panels. For Rothschiller, an
emphasis on providing solutions to problems,
and not just providing product, has
been the key to the growth of his firm.
In total, the one-day event featured more
than 15 speakers, including a luncheon video
presentation delivered by United States Senator
John Hoeven, R-N.D. “Thank you for the
opportunity to speak today about the important
work happening today in North Dakota
and the Bakken,” he says. “We are producing
more energy here at home, in large part because
of American entrepreneurship and technologies
like hydraulic fracturing, directional
drilling and the innovative work happening in
the Bakken and Three Forks shale.”
Luke Geiver is editor of The Bakken
magazine. The Bakken/Three Forks Shale Oil
Innovation Conference & Expo was organized
by The Bakken magazine, in collaboration
with the University of North Dakota’s College
of Engineering & Mines, the Department of
Petroleum Engineering and the Harold Hamm
School of Geology and Geological Engineering.
BASIN BITS | Spring 2014 41