MINOT, ND—Thousands of oil workers now make their home in the once desolate land of western North Dakota, and with many more thousands set to join them in the next few years, development opportunities have also increased. And on December 17th, the New York-based Sheldon Good & Co., a real estate auctioneer, will hold an auction for Egan Crest, a site located at 6252 Highway 2 between Williston and Minot. It has more than 70 acres, a 30-unit employee housing facility and enough infrastructure to support the immediate construction of 88 additional units.

Geologists tout this region, known as the Bakken, as the next Saudi Arabia. The United States Geological Survey estimated on April 30 that the region had 7.4 billion barrels of oil recoverable through hydraulic fracturing of the underground shale formations, a 27-year supply at the current rate of production, and about double what the agency estimated in 2008. Thousands of wells have already been drilled and as the fracturing, or “fracking,” technology improves, the amount of recoverable oil will probably increase.

This is SGC's second auction in the Bakken region this year. In July, the company auctioned off a 30.9-acre site in Watford City named Bakken Residence Suites, a high-end employee housing rental facility with 91 units that sold for $9 million.