Dirt Road to a Pumpjack Site Near Charbonneau, North Dakota

Oil pumpjack and storage facilities on a dirt road in North Dakota's Bakken Formation oil field.
Oil pumpjack and storage facilities on a dirt road in North Dakota's Bakken Formation oil field.

Charbonneau sits in McKenzie County, North Dakota, within the Bakken Formation, the shale oil play that drove the state's drilling boom starting in the mid-2000s. The pumpjack and tank battery here are typical of Bakken wellsites, where crude oil is separated and held in steel storage tanks before being trucked to pipeline or rail terminals. McKenzie County has long ranked among North Dakota's top oil-producing counties. Many access roads to wellsites like this one remain unpaved, built and maintained by operators to reach wells scattered across the rural grasslands.

Taken July 2015

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