North Dakota's oil boom

Russell Girsh, a floor hand for Raven Drilling, helps line up a pipe while drilling for oil in the Bakken shale formation outside Watford City, N.D., July 23, 2013.

North Dakota has been experiencing an oil boom in recent years, due in part to new drilling techniques including hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

In April 2013, The United States Geological Survey released a new study estimating the Bakken formation and surrounding oil fields could yield up to 7.4 billion barrels of oil, doubling their estimate of 2008, which was stated at 3.65 billion barrels of oil.

Workers for Raven Drilling work 12-hour days, working 14 days straight, and then having 14 days off. They stay at a camp nearby.

An oil derrick operated by Raven Drilling drills for oil in the Bakken shale formation outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

Russell Girsh, a floor hand for Raven Drilling, pauses while drilling for oil in the Bakken shale formation outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

A gas flare rises near an abandoned building outside Williston, July 22, 2013.

Men eat lunch in a makeshift restaurant, constructed from plywood and two-by-fours and attached to an RV outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

A pumpjack is seen outside Williston, July 22, 2013.

Pumpjacks are used to mechanically pump oil and natural gas out of the earth when there is not enough natural pressure for the liquids to rise on their own.

Phillip Chambers, a driller for Raven Drilling, talks on the phone while drilling for oil in the Bakken shale formation outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

Barrels and pallets sit on the site of an oil derrick in the Bakken shale formation outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

Brand Avery (L), a crew foreman with Knife River Corporation, takes a measurement while replacing storm drains in downtown Williston, July 22, 2013.

Over the past 10 years Williston has been at the epicenter of an oil boom in North Dakota which has fundamentally changed the small town.

In 2010, the town's permanent population was 14,715; city planners are estimating that by 2017 the permanent population will have doubled to 28,658.

Prior to the current oil boom, Williston's economy has struggled; the city's last prosperous period ended in the 1980s, when the last oil boom dried up.

Liquid used for drilling is churned at the site of an oil derrick outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

Workers with Raven Drilling line up pipe while drilling for oil in the Bakken shale formation outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

A directional driller reviews computer monitors while drilling for oil in the Bakken shale formation outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

A church sign reads, "When You're Down to Nothing God is up to Something," outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

Phillip Chambers, a driller for Raven Drilling, takes a break while drilling for oil in the Bakken shale formation outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

A construction worker walks down a torn-up street while storm drains are replaced in downtown Williston, July 22, 2013.

Clint "Peaches" Hulsey, spits out water while drilling for oil on a derrick in the Bakken shale formation outside Watford City, July 23, 2013.

A gas flare is seen outside Williston, July 23, 2013.

Flares are created when excess flammable gases are released unexpectedly by pressure release valves during drilling for oil and natural gas.