Tornado Alley (PROG)

[DesertDrifter]

i agree. there is already one refinery approved on an Indian reservation in ND, the first in a long time, which could go along with the one refinery already in operation in Mandan, ND.

But we can't underestimate the entrepeneurship of the citizens of ND, as they already have a state run bank and flour mill, and now it looks like they are going to try to get into the refining business themselves. Profits would defray taxes, and keep some money there instead of exporting it to wall street.

North Dakota legislators mull state oil refinery

By Janet McGurty

NEW YORK | Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:21pm EST

Jan 23 (Reuters) - North Dakota legislators are studying building the country's only state-run oil refinery to steady fuel prices and boost demand for locally produced crude.

Sandwiched between Minnesota and Montana along the Canadian border, the snowy farming state is the No. 8 U.S. oil producer thanks to advances which have enabled companies to extract crude oil from the giant Bakken Shale formation. (fracking, but that is another topic)

A group of Democratic North Dakota legislators is now looking into a state-run plant to refine oil from the deposit, where companies such as Marathon Oil Corp (MRO.N) produce about 130,000 barrels per day of light, sweet oil.

"In 2006, when we started to hit this formation, we had 30,000 barrels per day which had nowhere to go. Both the refinery and the pipelines were full," said Shirley Meyer, a member of the state's house of representatives, adding a study resolution was introduced during the house's http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/23/northdakota-refinery-idUSN2364316120080123