Plain Talk With Rob Port

It's no secret that the oil industry is central to North Dakota's economy. Still, it's surprising even for in-the-know citizens to look back at the remarkable growth of that industry over the last couple of decades. The North Dakota Petroleum Council routinely commissions studies into the economic impact of their industry, and the findings are eye-popping. The first study was conducted in 2005. "At that time, the oil and gas industry, we were producing 92,000 barrels of oil a day. We had 3,300 mostly tired oil wells from non-Bakken formations. We employed about 5,000 people," NDPC President Ron Ness said on this episode of Plain Talk. "Today we are a three $3.2 billion industry." "We employ 63,000 people," he continued. "We produce 1.2 million barrels of oil a day. "It's as you said, the rise has just been incredible." But what about the future? Ness says there are opportunities to find new avenues for growth that North Dakota must seize lest oil production and its attendant boons in terms of economic impacts