A global energy company with a longstanding presence in the Bakken shale play is well into the construction of its new Minot facility, but that's certainly not all it has been up to lately.
Halliburton broke ground some time back on a $15 million multipurpose facility in southeast Minot's Great Plains Energy Park, and construction is steaming along. According to Halliburton spokeswoman Tara Mullee Agard, construction is expected to be complete by the summer of 2012.
That facility is expected to employ as many as 250 people, Mullee said, but according to recent news, that's a mere drop in the bucket - or more appropriately, a "drop in the Bakken."
The company announced recently that it will be hiring a gross total well over 10,000 people in 2011, with a large number of those hires expected to be made in the "MonDak" region known commonly as the Bakken shale play.
"Halliburton employs more than 60,000 people in approximately 80 countries," Mullee Agard said Sept. 9. "In North America specifically, Halliburton anticipates gross hiring for 2011 will be approximately 11,000 people, with most of these jobs supporting our customers in the booming North America shale plays, especially the Bakken shale play."
Jim Brown, president of Halliburton's Western Hemisphere division, said on a national cable TV show that those positions would involve both inexperienced and experienced workers, with the potential for excellent compensation.
"If you have a willingness to work and an aptitude to learn with a high-school education, within a year and a half, two years, you can become a front-line supervisor," Brown told Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money." "That job will pay $125,000, $130,000 a year.
"It's a tremendous opportunity. You (have) got to come to North Dakota, but what we're doing here, we're replicating across the nation."
In addition, Halliburton recently caused quite a stir when a company executive took a drink of what it said was its new hydraulic fracturing fluid.
Halliburton is in the midst of an effort to counteract some opponents of hydraulic fracture stimulation - commonly known as "fracking."
Many of those opposed decry what they say is the injection of harmful chemicals into the ground to extract oil and gas from dense rock.
In response, Halliburton has been publicizing development of its "CleanSuite" products, including "CleanStim" fracking fluid that the company says is made entirely of substances "sourced from the food industry."
The Associated Press reported that at an industry conference in Colorado, Halliburton Chief Financial Officer Mark McCollum took a "swig" of what CEO Dave Lesar said was CleanStim, with no apparent harmful effects.
Also of note, Halliburton recently reached a deal to acquire Texas-based Multi-Chem, an oilfield services company that opened a large warehouse and office in Stanley in 2010.