Just received word that I and my reporting buddy Sean Maher (check out his website here) won the Institute of Politics Gate Reporting Grant! And we’re headed to… North Dakota! (It was Sean’s idea). We’re going to be doing an in-depth investigation on how crashing oil prices in the past year have impacted the North Dakota shale oil boom – socially, economically, politically, culturally, etc. The oil boom is something that’s been covered increasingly in the past decade, with a series of articles in the New York Times and an award-winning documentary, suggesting that there isn’t much left for us. But immediately after this spurt of coverage, world media started reporting on a major world crash in oil prices, tumbling from over a hundred dollars to under $50 a barrel from June to December 2014.

So, where does that leave North Dakota? That’s the question.

The oil crash hit oil producers in different parts of the world unequally, giving credence to the theory that Saudi Arabia and the US engineered the crash to hurt their mutual worst enemies – Russia, Venezuela, and Iran, among other notable oil producers. This isn’t just conspiracy theorists talking – the BBC reported on this idea, among others.

Now, the interesting thing is that many of North Dakota’s oil fields are right on the edge between profitability and poverty. Back in October, as the oil price crash was underway, Bloomberg came out with an article arguing that North Dakota was still a-OK – but that was back when oil prices were still hovering near $80 a barrel. The break-even price for most fields are between $65 and $70 a barrel, so $80 is fine. But, a quick google search reveals that current prices are around… $55 a barrel.

Welp.

So, does this mean North Dakota is in trouble? Tune in next time, when Sean and I set out to explore what’s going on over there!

Image Credit: Rob Port