Robert Haggar and Reid Grode
The North Dakota Oil Spill and it’s Economic Significance
On October 17th Tesoro announced that it had found “anomalies” along it’s High Plains Pipeline in Western North Dakota. This was preceded by reports from a local farmer discovered a oil leak in his fields on September 29th. On October 10th and 11th, Tesoro used a robot to discover that there was a leak in the 20 year old pipeline running in part from Tioga to Black Slough in North Dakota. Experts have reported that corrosion on the pipe may have caused the spill. The pipeline, part of the "High Plains" pipeline system, gathers oil from the Bakken shale and delivers it to another pipeline and to Tesoro's 68,000 barrels-per-day Mandan refinery. All in all, a total of 20,000 barrels of oil were spilled.
When it comes to economic significance, the results are clear. Due to the fact that most of the oil harvested from North Dakota is utilized using fracking, people are going to be wary of future oil drilling, especially for the more difficult to obtain oil. In addition to oil spills, fracking has also been attributed to natural gas in tap water and increased health risks for people living near the fracking. Because of these factors and the fact that oil is becoming more scarce, we can expect gas prices to rise steadily and quickly.
Question:
Why would an event like this have an impact on the economic market?
Visser, Nick. "North Dakota Oil Spill: Tesoro Detected Anomalies Before 20,000 Barrels Burst From Pipeline." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
1 comment:
Levi McKercher and Alex Darrington
We feel this effects the economy very highly. With problems in removing oil from the earth, results in higher prices for oil and gas. The market for these products will not change, but the prices people pay for them will. Not to mention the economic cost of cleaning these accidents up
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