Shaun Polczer, NORTH DAKOTA: During a flyover of North Dakota, the International Space Station recorded a mystery city the size of Minneapolis, in November. Covering some 200,000 square km, the “city” was determined to be flares from the Bakken oilfield, their light visible in space from 350 km.
Standing out like an orange blot on a black background, the images shot last summer are already out of date. Bakken oil production has jumped by at least 30% since they were taken and now sits well above 500,000 barrels a day (b/d).
It’s an impressive feat considering the play was producing less than 2,000 b/d a decade ago. But its rapid growth is fuelling a boom-and-bust mentality taking hold in all of North America’s...