Shale Gas Boom Going Bust In Bakken?

Shale gas will power the future.  Or it won't.  There has been much back and forth over whether or fracked gas is the next big thing, or whether the nature of fracked wells is such that the recoverable volumes from them are being wildly  overestimated.  Basically, the individual wells don't produce for very long, and  "sweet spots" get pumped out first.  So you wind up having to drill like heck for lower quality returns, which of course drives up production costs.

Meanwhile, recent economic numbers from North Dakota, home of the famed Bakken Formation, suggest that the jobs boom created by exploration/exploitation of Bakken gas may be coming to an end:

Let's begin at the left, with mining. The rig count across North Dakota, and particularly in the rich Bakken shale, dropped sharply in September and hiring has slowed since the summer, as drilling companies have turned their focus to efficiency as capital costs (and concerns of regulation) rise in the Bakken. That's probably had spill-over effects in transportation hiring... 

Time will tell the story, but there are many who think that shale gas is already yesterday's news, and that what is happening in the Bakken  will repeat itself across the U.S. and globally.