In North Dakota, hints of US oil industry comeback In Williston, North Dakota, the fall in oil prices by 70 percent has done its damage. Of the companies that have survived, many are no longer hiring, waiting for global demand for crude oil to pick up again. North Dakota has higher costs for extracting shale oil than many of its competitors like Saudi Arabia. This mostly stems from the expensive procedures of hydraulic fracking and horizantal drilling, common in the northern region of the United States. A voiced version of an AFPTV report.