Bison to the Bakken to ONEOK

North Dakota State University’s Bison to the Bakken program brought 37 students to McKenzie County and included a tour of our Lonesome Creek natural gas gathering and processing plant.

ONEOK Rockies Midstream (ORM) employees recently hosted students from North Dakota State University (NDSU) on a tour of our Lonesome Creek natural gas gathering and processing plant in Alexander, North Dakota.

The plant was part of Bison to the Bakken, a 12-day summer program offering NDSU students an opportunity to explore western North Dakota’s energy sector, connect with top employers and discover internship and job opportunities. The ONEOK Foundation recently helped fund the program.

A group of 37 students majoring in agriculture, business, engineering and other fields participated in the program, which came to McKenzie County, North Dakota, for two days.

“It was nice for McKenzie County to showcase the area to the students who have limited information and knowledge of opportunities in the western part of the state,” said Anselmo Hernandez Jr., director, technical training in Sidney, Montana. “Also, with our refined products and crude assets close to the Fargo, North Dakota, area, it’s important they become familiar with ONEOK and that we inform them of opportunities with our wonderful organization.”

Jared Troudt, intermediate measurement technician in Sidney, participated in a panel discussion attended by Bison to the Bakken students.

“I talked about how ONEOK supports local communities in multiple ways through grants, sponsorships and more,” said Troudt. “I also talked about how we went from 2,900 employees to more than 6,000 in 20 states and answered questions about our footprint and places they could live and work with us. It was a very fun event.”

ORM Construction has partnered with NDSU for several years regarding research on pipeline remediation, Amanda Jenkins, construction coordinator in Watford City, explained. She said she was excited that the program reached out about this opportunity and that ONEOK was able to participate. The visit gave students a strong overview of the construction process, as well as ONEOK’s presence in the region and how its assets connect from North Dakota to Texas.