The Bakken Oil Field has been in existence for 2.5 to 3 million years, geologists and oil companies have been pursuing it off and on since the 1970’s.  During the 70’s oil boom there was a mini oil boom in Western ND but by the early 80’s it had gone bust.  It wasn’t until hydraulic fracing was combined with horizontal drilling technology that they were able to make wells productive.  Then crude oil needed to get above $40 on a consistent basis in order to provide the profitability needed to extract the oil and bring it to market.

Today with oil hovering in the $80-90 range there is an absolute boom going on in Western ND.  In fact, oil men from Houston are opening offices in Minot ND to be near the action!

There are literally dozens of oil drilling, production and services companies that benefit from the Bakken.  I’ve been a longtime investor in Enbridge Energy Partners LP (EEP) which has 240 miles of pipeline in ND and also serves the Canadian Oil Sands. My 3 favorite Bakken Oil stocks are Northern Oil and Gas (NOG), Brigham Exploration (BEXP) and Kodiak Oil and Gas (KOG) which are up 98%, 95% and 130% respectively this year.

There is also a niche mutual fund that is focused on companies doing business in the Bakken Oil Field. It’s called the Williston Basin Integrity North American Stock Fund – Ticker Symbol ICPAX and here are the top 25 holdings of the fund.

I also listed them below as it gives you an idea of how many companies there are benefiting from the Bakken oil boom. I wish I would’ve heard of this fund several months ago because it had a stellar 4th quarter!

CRR Carbo Ceramics, Inc.
BHI Baker Hughes Inc.
BEXP Brigham Exploration Company
OAS Oasis Petroleum Inc.
CPX Complete Production Services, Inc.
WLL Whiting Petroleum Corporation
LUFK Lufkin Industries, Inc.
EOG EOG Resources
HAL Halliburton Company
CLR Continental Resources, Inc.
DRC Dresser-Rand Group, Inc.
NOV National Oilwell Varco, Inc.
GEOI GeoResources, Inc.
PTEN Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc.
ENB Enbridge, Inc.
WFT Weatherford International Ltd
NOG Northern Oil & Gas Inc
NBR Nabors Industries, Ltd.
BAS Basic Energy Services, Inc.
KOG Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp.
TRP TransCanada Corporation
HES Hess Corporation
MRO Marathon Oil Corporation
NEM Newmont Mining Corporation
CFWFF Calfrac Well Services Ltd