At a steady 60-plus rig count, the Bakken is a powerful job creator even if it doesn’t return to its peak in 2013-2014, Barry Biggs, vice president of onshore for Hess Corp., told Hart Energy’s Jessica Morales at the recent DUG Rockies Conference in Denver.

With completion of pipelines in North Dakota and the narrowing differentiation of price between West Texas Intermediate and Brent, the margins in the Bakken have widened and producers are looking north again, Biggs said.