dalrymple-GovBISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple says the state’s unprecedented oil boom is far from going bust.
 
     Dalrymple told an audience of several hundred at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference and Expo in Bismarck that the oil industry is “as solid as solid can be.”
 
     State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms says there are about 11,000 Bakken wells that have been drilled, and another 31,000 that are planned or permitted. Helms says a total of 65,000 wells are likely to come on line within the next 20 years.
 
     North Dakota sweet crude was fetching about $50 a barrel on Wednesday. That’s about twice that of a low a few months ago.
 
     Whiting Petroleum CEO James Volker says the Bakken will be “cruising” at prices above $60 a barrel.