More than two years after the state's unprecedented oil bonanza fizzled to a lull, North Dakota - the nation's No. 2 oil producer behind Texas - is experiencing a sort of boomlet that has pushed daily production back above 1 million barrels daily.
Industry officials and others say the uptick comes from a bump in crude prices, regulatory certainty with the more drill-friendly Trump administration, better technology, and the prospect of nearly half of the state's crude coursing through the disputed Dakota Access Pipeline, which could open markets abroad where top prices are typically fetched.
This is why the Dakota Access Pipeline was so important to the oil production in the region. The problem with Bakken crude is getting it to market was so expensive. That's why it's always traded at around a 10% discount to West Texas crude because the only way to ship it was to compete with Canadian crude coming down a pipeline from Canada or on oil train cars that were slow and dangerous.
Shippers also can save about $3 per barrel moving the oil by pipeline rather than using the mile-long trains
So by building this pipeline it not only saved oil producers $3 a barrel but it also allows bakken oil to be brought to bigger markets which has an effect of increasing the price of oil by removing the discount to West Texas.
It's still probably not enough to see record outputs this summer if oil stays around $50 but that extra savings can go alone way.
Example of the discount in bakken crude compared to west texas crude