Energy conference begins in Bismarck

A major oil company says they will be trying new things in North Dakota Steve Hinchman is the vice-president of wordwide production for Marathon Oil He says they have developed new drilling rigs just for the Bakken Shale in Western North Dakota Hinchman says they will be blowing up rocks in the shale to see if that will help pull more oil from the ground He says it is just an experiment to see how it works Steve Hinchman Marathon Oil We ve known it as a source rock but not as a resivour rock A rock that we can go in and exploit and produce from Its this technology now that has opened it up to be an exploritory resource Senator Byron Dorgan is also using the Great Plains Energy Expo as a chance to announce his next renewable energy initiative Tomorrow Dorgan will be introducing a bill that would create mandates to help ethanol get to its market He says right now in the state of North Dakota there are eighteen thousand vehicles that can use E-85 However there are only twenty-three pumps throughout the state offering the product Sen Byron Dorgan D-ND you not only have to produce ethanol but you also have to find a way to run it through a carborator or fuel injector some place you got to have a market for it My great concern is and I expressed it a year ago is that we are go to build up and market were going to build up rather and produce a lot of ethanol but if you dont have the ability to market it at the same time you will have a collapse in the industry The Great Plains Energy Expo continues tomorrow at the Bismarck Civic Center Exhibition Hall